Headmaster Installation: The Start of a New Beginning - Page 2
Casady School 2008 - 2009
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR LIFE
STUDENT AND ALUMNI ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH AN EDUCATION EDGE
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6 In the Next Issue:
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Casady is the platform from which students launch themselves into college and onto their life experiences. The education that they receive here is fundamental to their preparation for time beyond Casady. In the photo, to the left, Marie Mason ’09 is shown with a group of students in Cambodia where she and her brother George Mason ’07 taught English at the Marie Mason English Language School which was supported by the Cambodian Children’s Education Fund and Cambodian Vision in Development. Marie and George raised their own money through fundraisers they organized to support their mission. This is an example of Casady students reaching beyond their boundaries to help others while working to achieve personal goals.
table of contents 2 Start of A New Beginning 4 New Trustees 6 Lending a Helping Hand 8 Around the Lake 10 Letter from Alumni Association 11 Classnotes: Even Years 44 Life Events
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46 Alumni Awards Reception Wert Family Completes 49 Kirkpatrick Challenge 50 A Passion in the Family 52 Journey of Hope 53 Keeping History Alive at Casady Understanding the Value 54 of a Casady Education
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The Casady Magazine Development Staff Chris Mauldin, Director of Development Betty Jane Garrett, Director of Alumni Relations Jennifer Reynolds, Director of Annual Fund Kay Love-Day, Manager of Gift Records Jeff Schmidt, Communications Assistant Printing Southwestern Stationery and Bank Supply, Inc. Oklahoma City, OK Photography Editorial staff Wes Sharp
Special thanks to members of the Casady community far and near for supplying photos for this publication. The Casady Magazine is the official publication of Casady School created to support and advance the educational goals of the School by fostering the interests and activities of Casady alumni, parents and friends. The magazine is published semi-annually and mailed without charge to the Casady community. Š 2008 by Casady School
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OF A NEW NEW beginning the start
As many students, alumni, parents, grandparents and Casady friends know, walking up the steps and through the arch above the doors into the Chapel of St. Edward the Confessor’s south entrance evokes in all of us the emotion and history that makes Casady School great. On Sept. 25 Christopher C. Bright followed the acolytes, trustees, religious leaders and key administrators into the Chapel and was officially welcomed into the Casady family as our 10th Headmaster. In a traditional ceremony symbolizing the legacy of our institution, the principal speakers delivered heartfelt remarks highlighting opportunities and expectations for the future with Mr. Bright as Headmaster. “This is a momentous occasion in the history of Casady School as we honor our past and celebrate our future. Casady’s future is quite bright, both literally and figuratively, and we are glad you have chosen to be with us tonight,” said Associate Headmaster David W. Gorham in his opening remarks. Rt. Rev. Edward J. Konieczny, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, presided over the installation ceremony. The event’s key moment was the presentation of the Headmaster to the Bishop by key school leaders. In the true family spirit, Mr. Bright’s son Sam ’19 served as an acolyte and daughter Sophie ’17 read a passage while his wife Jana and the rest of the Bright clan looked on with pride. The Casady Choir led by Seth Turnipseed rounded out the Casady family. Mr. Bright’s longtime friend and mentor Dr. Joseph J. Ferretti, senior vice president and provost of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and internationally recognized scientist, introduced Mr. Bright. He said, “When I heard
PROGRESS “ IS INEVITABLE.
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his name mentioned as a candidate for the Headmaster position, I reflected back on the many conversations Chris and I have had over the years about education, innovation and how to funnel his passion for education to the students. I congratulate the search committee for bringing one of our own back to Oklahoma City. He brings a world of experience and enthusiasm with him, and I know you will find him up to the challenge.” During the ceremony, Mr. Bright challenged the community to live by the School’s mission statement; by the motto, mind, body, spirit; and by the Latin words Fideliter et Fortiter are a part of the School’s crest and translate as faithfully and bravely. “Progress is inevitable. So, in order to ensure that we make the kind of progress we need to make; the kind that’s great for kids, we need to act courageously and with faith, we must pay attention to where we are, who we are, our history, our past, the world as it is today,” he said. “We need to pay attention to our environment. We need to adopt clear, sustainable approaches to our use of resources, and we must understand the importance of diversity in all its forms. If we do these things, we’ll be well on our way to create healthy, thoughtful, engaged, active, and ethical adults who strive to improve our world.” The four pillars of sustainability Mr. Bright describes as necessary to this organization are: Environmental, Programmatic, Global and Financial. With these aims Casady will continue to be the leader in independent education in Oklahoma City, and the Casady community is certain to grow. “While the long-standing traditions of Casady have served as helpful guideposts for generations of kids, each generation
SO, IN ORDER TO ENSURE THAT WE MAKE THE KIND OF PROGRESS WE NEED TO MAKE; THE KIND THAT’S GREAT FOR KIDS, WE NEED TO ACT COURAGEOUSLY AND WITH FAITH, WE MUST PAY ATTENTION TO WHERE WE ARE, WHO WE ARE, OUR HISTORY, OUR PAST, THE WORLD AS IT IS TODAY, MR. BRIGHT SAID.
Dr. Joseph J. Ferretti delivered featured remarks and introduced Mr. Bright.
Casady Choir members Shanna Schuelein, Nina Becerra, Karoline Thompson sing during the ceremony.
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Sam Bright ’19 served as an acolyte.
Christopher C. Bright, Headmaster, enters the chapel for the installation held on September 25, 2008.
RIght Reverend Edward J. Konieczny, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, presided over the installation ceremony.
has shaped what Casady has become,” said Mr. Bright. “Even now, in our technological, instantly-connected world, we’ve remained true to the original intent of our school by paying attention to the core values that sustain us; the non-negotiables that lie at the center of an ethical approach to education. Casady, in September 2008, is at the cusp of a new era. At the beginning of the 21st century, we have already begun to move our school forward so that we can best address the needs of our students in a rapidly changing, globalized world.” In closing, Mr. Bright said, “at moments like this installation ceremony, when we come together as a community, it’s necessary that we pause and take time to recommit to the foundations of the school, to reflect on the importance of education and to join together. So, act boldly and act faithfully. Have faith in each other and in our community. Involve yourselves in the fullness of life; have the courage to stand up and make a difference.” Joining the rich history of Casady School leaders including Michael Martin, Shaun Kelly, Howard Taber, Robert B. Woolsey, Richard B. McCubbin, Barnaby J. Roberts, Mark H. Mullin, Charles W. Britton and David W. Gorham, Mr. Bright is poised to succeed as he leads the School into a new era. He comes at a time when Casady has embarked on its Forward Focus: Campaign for Casady capital campaign. A key component of the campaign is to design and build LEED Certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) science and math facilities which will be among the first “green” education facilities in the state. As the installation ceremony closed, and the attendees returned through those arches and down the steps into a beautiful evening, we all had a renewed sense of hope, urgency, and pride that is truly unique to Casady. Our Headmaster is now officially in place and the newest member of the Casady family confirmed.
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Sydney Warren, Sarah Warren, Anthony Warren, Jana Bright, Marciel Barber, Sam Bright, Chris Bright, Connie Bright, Bob Bright, Sophie Bright, and Seddie Barber attended the installation.
Sophie Bright ’17 served as a reader.
New Trustees As an independent school, Casady is governed by a Board of Trustees that oversees the long-range planning and financial stability of our institution. This board works in partnership with the Headmaster and other administrators to provide leadership and a framework from which the day-to-day operations by faculty and staff will follow. Stuart P. Milsten, Shirley A. Samis, Thomas S. Stapleton and J. Taylor Currie are the four new trustees whose three-year terms began in June.
J. TAYLOR CURRIE
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J. Taylor Currie graduated from Casady in 1991. He attended the University of Kansas and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in economics. Taylor was a board member of the Casady Alumni Association for seven years and served as president in 2005-06. Taylor is currently the president of Energy Partners Alliance, LLC specializing in commercial lighting upgrades and energy management systems to make commercial properties more energy-efficient. In addition to the Casady School Board of Trustees, he currently serves on the board of Harn Homestead and the Calm Waters Center for Children and Families. He was named to The Journal Record’s inaugural Achievers under 40 Class. Taylor is married to Allison, and they have two children, Caroline and Davis.
SHIRLEY A. EVEREST Beyond extensive Casady involvement, Shirley A. Everest has a broad background in community experience. Shirley graduated from Casady in 1977 and continued her education at Hollins University in Roanoke, VA, finishing with a BA in French. She and her husband Pete Everest ’71 have two children, Lawre ’04 and Peter ’07. As a Casady parent, Shirley was president of the Casady Parents Organization Board of Directors in 2005-06 and has served as president-elect, ex-officio, Middle Division chair, nominating chair, class representative and has volunteered her time at the Book Fair, Faculty Studies Dinner, Carnival, Conundrum, Auction and other fundraisers sponsored by the CPO. Shirley was instrumental in launching the raffle for the car at the Cirque du Cyclones Auction, and she co-chaired the School’s 50th anniversary party with, Katie McClendon. The Alumni Association’s Board of Directors benefitted from having Shirley involved as a member and as a phonathon participant. Community-wise, Shirley served three years on the Vestry for All Souls Episcopal Church and two of those years as secretary,
and she served on the search committees for the rector and associate priest. Shirley extends her hands even further into the community as a driver for Mobile Meals. For the Junior League of Oklahoma City, Shirley served as community vice president, chaired the membership committee and served on nominating, training and project development committees, but her most rewarding experience was as a volunteer at Children’s Hospital. Always civic-minded, she served on the Board of Make-A-Wish Foundation and chaired the Beaux Arts Ball Committee where she still serves as an adviser. Shirley has worked on the Starlight Ball, benefiting Children’s Medical Research; the Children’s Charity Ball, benefiting several children’s causes; and she is presently working on the Boots and Ball Gowns gala to benefit Infant Crisis Services. Shirley is president-elect for the ladies golf association at Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. She currently tutors once a week at North Highland Elementary School, and she works parttime at Bebe’s in Nichols Hills Plaza.
STUART P. MILSTEN After graduating from Casady in 1979, Stuart P. Milsten received a BA in Business Administration and Economics from Trinity University in San Antonio. He then began his career in New York City with Bear Stearns & Co. on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. In 1985, he started his own trading firm on the Amex as an independent market-maker in index options. In 1996, he founded STR Trading Partners which specialized in mathematical modeling and proprietary trading of equity and index derivatives, index arbitrage and Exchange Traded Funds. After 21 years on the Amex, Stuart left the floor in 2004 and now manages his clients’ investments in venture capital, hedge funds and other trading firms. Stuart and his wife, Leslie, have two daughters, Grace ’17 and Annie ’19. Stuart is involved in numerous charitable activities and serves on the
executive committee of Allied Arts and as a board member of Cheshire Home, a specialized care nursing facility for physically disabled adults located in Florham Park, NJ. Stuart and Leslie cochaired the 2007-08 Casady Annual Fund and have taken on the task again for the 2008-09 year. He is also chairing the development committee of the Board of Trustees.
THOMAS S. STAPLETON Thomas S. Stapleton is a partner in Triad Energy Inc., an oil and gas exploration and construction company founded in 1981 in Enid. The company was relocated to Oklahoma City in 1984 and operates primarily in Oklahoma. Tom grew up in Lawton and received a BS in geology from the University of Oklahoma. He has served on the Vestry of St. Paul’s Cathedral and was on the board of the Swing for Sight Charity Golf Tournament which benefits Prevent Blindness Oklahoma. Tom has served on the Alumni Advisory Council for the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics at OU for the past six years. Tom and his wife, Gayla, have four daughters, Alex ’07, Emily ’06, Macey ’03 and Taylor ’00. He plays golf and travels regularly to see his children at their respective colleges.
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2008-2009 Board of Trustees OFFICERS Chairman E. Carey Joullian IV ’78
Treasurer G. Jeffrey Records II ’77
Secretary Clayton I. Bennett ’78
Immediate Past Chairman Michael M. Stewart ’66
MEMBERS
J. Taylor Currie ’91 Shirley A. Everest ’77 Ann M. Felton Rodman A. Frates ’54 Frank D. Hill Kathleen B. McClendon Stuart P. Milsten ’79 Dr. Sumeeta M. Nanda Thomas S. Stapleton Jill F. Utz Max A. Weitzenhoffer ’57 The Right Rev. Edward J. Konieczny Headmaster Christopher C. Bright
helping LENDING Imagine spending nearly two weeks of summer vacation in Peru working with children to transform a landfill into a childoperated ecological park. With that endeavor comes a sense of fulfillment, a sense of completion and a sense of joy to see the work and the great benefits it will provide the Peruvian children who will fill that playground. Faculty member and Rainbolt Family Service-Learning Chair Carmen Clay and seven students did just that. Inspired by Mackenzie Walker ’09 who expressed a desire to model service and leadership in another country and do more than missionary work, Mrs. Clay worked with the World Leadership School of Denver, CO, on a program for Casady students to work with Peruvian children. The inspiring Children’s Land Project brought together American students and Peruvian children to create a childowned and operated ecological park. The purpose was for teens and children to collaborate about global sustainability and the 6 importance of caring for and loving our natural environment. The proposal presented by Mrs. Clay and Robert Clements ’10 who is Youth and Adult Advisory and Action Council (YAC) junior chair and a three-year YAC member. Ania, the Peruvian non-profit agency that invented the concept of Children’s Land, is “a piece of land given officially to the children to learn to use, protect and value the natural and cultural I HAD AN resources that sustain their lives. A OPPORTUNITY ‘children’s land’ can take many forms.
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THAT GAVE ME THE CHANCE TO CONNECT WITH MY PERSONAL ROOTS AND HONOR MY FATHER’S WORK IN PERU AND TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH MY TEAM OF TEENAGERS WORKING AND CONSTRUCTING THE PLAYGROUND FOR THE CHILDREN OF PERU, SAID MRS. CLAY.
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It can be a square meter within a home garden, a school backyard or 100 hectares of forest.” Ania, is a hero of cartoon books and portrays a native girl from the Peruvian Amazon who inspires children to love and care for nature and the Children’s Parks now spreading across the world. The Children’s Land Project arose from needs of the children of Manco Capac Elementary School in Ollantaytambo, Peru. Two other American high schools, Groton School of Groton, MA, and Lakeside Academy of Seattle, WA, were involved after Casady students completed their task. “The population is 40 percent children. We installed the first part of the ecological playground, and we taught English. The students participated in the building, and their work ethic stunned us. We had no power tools so we had to work by hand. We rafted and played and danced too,” said Nina Becerra ’09. “I had an opportunity that gave me the chance to connect with my personal roots and honor my father’s work in Peru and to make a difference with my team of teenagers working and constructing the playground for the children of Peru,” said Mrs. Clay. Mrs. Clay came to Casady as an exchange student in the fall of 1973 and graduated with the class of 1974. Her husband, Mark, is also a member of the 1974 class. Mrs. Clay has been on the faculty here for nine years and previously spent 20 years at Heritage Hall as a Spanish teacher and head of the foreign language department. Mrs. Clay’s position at Casady is endowed by the Rainbolt Family.
Mackenzie Walker, Carmen Clay, Louisa Liedtke, Rosalie Atkinson, Nina Becerra, Kendall Hall, Grayson Walker, Jake Patton and Paull Pamita, World Leadership School facilitator and tour guide.
Nina, Rosalie, Louisa and Mackenzie work with the children to sand a board to prepare it for its place on the playground.
The Inca Manco children sit attentively while Casady students teach them English.
Almost finished, the students were pleased with the results after all of their hard work.
Students traveling with the Casady program to Peru included Mackenzie and her brother Grayson Walker ’07 who attends Southern Methodist University, Nina Becerra ’09, Louisa Liedtke ’10, Kendall Hall ’11 and Jake Patton ’11 and Bishop McGuinness High School Junior Rosalie Atkinson. Casady students’ goals and objectives for this project were “to describe an innovative, overseas service project that grew from the needs and wants of a community of school children in Inca, Peru; to review practical tips and strategies for launching such a project and operating it on a continuing basis; to describe Ania and the concept of ‘Children’s Lands,’ which have considerable potential not only Peru but in the United States and other countries as well.” Coming in June 2009, students will have the opportunity for the Andes Education Service Learning and Leadership Program in Ollantaytambo, Peru. Students will live with families, do service work in Peru’s Sacred Valley of the Incas, study Spanish and the education crisis in the developing world in collaboration with World Leadership School. The school’s mission is to unite young people around the world’s most pressing problems and empower them to become leaders. The Casady faculty sponsors for the 2009 venture are Spanish teacher Kari Bornhoft, Dean of Students and Spanish teacher Matt Pena and Mrs. Clay. Students will receive service credit and Spanish summer school course credit. Reading and graded assignments will be required. For the service work, the participants will commit to an education-related construction project such as constructing a new classroom or building a playground. Students will also teach English and other subjects in the schools.
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A R O U N D Lisa Simms Trail ’83 brought her family with her from Austin, TX, for the 25th reunion. Lisa is pictured with her husband Brian and daughters Morgan and Taylor at the Homecoming Picnic.
Carly Jack Melton ’18, Tucker Nelson ’19 and Cammie Jordanov ’18 dressed up in their Halloween costumes for the Alumni Homecoming Picnic.
David Elder ’95 and his wife Adrienne Ballew Elder ’95 with their son James Allen Elder at the Alumni Homecoming Picnic. D.J. Morgan ’96 holds enjoys time with his daughter Ellen at the Homecoming Picnic.
Chip Oppenheim ’77, Lee Ann Morgan Gove ’77 and her husband Erwin and sons Michael (front) and Hunt attended the summer All Classes Picnic.
First grade buddies on the playground at recess include Reagan Hisey, Sean Chopra, Ford Watkins, Kunal Patel, Parker Mills and Benjamin Coleman.
9 Attending Casady Club held at Coach House Restaurant and featuring speaker Clay Bennett ’78 are Randy Trachtenberg, John Parsons and Eric Fisher ’84.
(from left) Gary Smith, David Smith, Nathan Smith ’18 and Erin Glasgow spent time at the Back to School Picnic.
Gene Rainbolt addressed economic issues when he spoke to students during an event sponsored by the Youth and Adult Advisory and Action Council (YAC). Mr. Rainbolt is pictured with Carmen Clay ’74, YAC adviser and Rainbolt Family ServiceLearning Chair. Standing in line to write their verses for Bible Across America are fourth graders Kaylee Scott, Sydney Bell, Vinay Chandrasekaran, Kiki Greene, Sheridan Carter and Abby Garrett.
Student Council President Patrick Wert ’09 with Mr. Twister aka Peter Gilman ’09.
the lake
ALUMNI
Association
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Greetings from the Alumni Board! I have the distinct pleasure of serving as president of the Casady Alumni Association’s Board of Directors this year. As a member of the Alumni Association, I would like to fill Kelly McCampbell Gentry ‘79 you in on board activities. Alumni Association President The excitement around the school is infectious. If you haven’t had a chance to be on campus lately, come on. Stop in and say hello to our new Director of Alumni Relations, Betty Jane Harvey Garrett ’86. We are very happy that she has decided to work with us! She is a multi-talented individual and I know that you will enjoy working with her when you correspond with Casady. Her email is garrettbj@casady.org. The Alumni board sponsored the webcasts of the Heritage Hall and the Holland Hall football games. If you weren’t at the games, I hope you had the chance to listen to the webcast. The athletics page on the website has the instructions on how to access webcasts for future events. It is a great way to stay connected with Casady, listen to the athletics and hear announcements about upcoming events and activities of the Alumni Association. Homecoming weekend was very busy. We had the Alumni Awards Reception on Thursday evening Oct. 30. Photos from Homecoming weekend are posted on the Alumni webpage at www. casady.org. Also on Thursday evening was the 50-Year Banquet coordinated by Marilyn Mee Meade ’56, Robert O. Bowles ’54, Edward H. Cook ’53, W. Rowland Denman ’54, Ann Sheridan Watson ’54 and John J. Coates Jr. ’57. On Friday evening, which was Halloween, the Alumni Homecoming Picnic before the game was a success with Halloween activities for the children. In addition, there were several classes with reunion activities that weekend.
Estate Sale
Plans for the Casady Estate Sale are gaining steam. The Estate Sale is scheduled for May 8 and 9, 2009. WE NEED YOUR STUFF! We have found that good, used furniture is a great seller! We also need household items like bedding sets, sets of china, silver, etc. If you have a question about what is needed, please contact Kathleen Stevenson ’78 who is in charge of acquisitions. If you have some items to donate, please contact Betty Jane Garrett, garrettbj@casady.org or 405-749-3162 and she’ll take your information and pass it on to the pick-up committee which is chaired by Nick Bentley ’94. They will contact you. As part of the Estate Sale, we are selling raffle tickets. You can buy tickets from any board member or if you want to sell several, contact Dana Bevers Price ’81, and she can provide you with several tickets. The Estate Sale is the major fundraiser for the Alumni Board and the proceeds go to fund the Alumni Scholarship Endowment Fund.
Connections Committee
The Board’s connections committee is working to continue the
activities of last year to determine creative methods to keep alumni connected. The email system is set up so that you can have an email that stays with you forever. My email address is kelly.gentry79@casadyalumni.org. I forwarded my other emails to it so I receive all of my emails in one spot. DJ Morgan ‘96 is in charge of the connections committee. If you have an idea, please pass it on to him.
Alumni Advancement Committee
David Elder ’95, vice-president of the Alumni Board, chairs the Alumni Advancement Committee. He is charged with coordinating and facilitating efforts to increase the percentage of Alumni giving to the Annual Fund. PLEASE GIVE! When Casady applies for grants, they look at the percentage of Alumni giving and how well this group supports the school. We have an enormous percentage of faculty and staff who donate as well as parents and friends in the Community. It is important to increase our participation. The Alumni giving stands at about 18 percent for the 2007-08 year but is not the best in the SPC. We would like to increase the percentage to be more in line with other schools of our size. An easy way to give is to go to www.casady.org click on “Giving to Casady” and then “Donate Now.” Credit cards are accepted online, or contact the Alumni office at garrettbj@casady.org or 405.749.3162 for other options. If you can’t give a lot, give a little… just give.
Ambassadors Committee
Chaired by David Sapper ’74, this committee is working on an Archive system to adequately keep track of items that the School has from the past. If you have items that would be of interest to that committee or you would like to help with the project, please contact David. Read more about this incredible committee and the work they are doing on pg. 53 of this magazine.
Alumni Events Committee
Chaired by Kaycee Wilcox Nolting ’79, this committee will be working to facilitate some great activities for alumni. We had a very successful alumni picnic prior to the homecoming game against Holland Hall. If you were unable to be there, plan to attend next year. The Alumni Golf Tournament, chaired by Michael Love ‘93, is scheduled for May 18, 2008. Put it on your calendar and make plans to attend.
Young Alumni Committee
Mollie Bennett ’02 is chairing a committee to encourage young alumni to stay connected with the school. Look on the alumni page of the website to see the activities.
ARE YOU RECEIVING ALUMNI CONNECTIONS? Casady’s email newsletter is designed especially for Alumni. If you are not receiving our emails, please contact the Casady Alumni Office at garrettbj@casady.org or 405-749-3162.
class notes the even years Editor’s Notes We hope you enjoy this latest collection of alumni news and happenings. Please continue to send news, photos, etc. to your Class Correspondents throughout the year. Please contact the Alumni Office if you need the name of your Class Correspondent. Let us know if being a Class Correspondent is of interest to you. Perhaps not immediately, but the time may come when we will call upon you for assistance. Finally, your alumni records at Casady are only as current as you allow them to be. If you are moving, changing email addresses, getting married, increasing the size of your family, etc., you can update us via the Alumni web page at www.casady. org or call the office at 405-749-3162 or email garrettbj@casady.org. With current information, we can keep you in the loop and help you stay connected with your friends in the Casady family! - Betty Jane Garrett ’86 Director of Alumni Relations
Photo Guidelines: • Alumni are encouraged to send photographs of weddings, mini-reunions and other subjects of interest to their Class Correspondents or directly to the Alumni Office. Space may restrict their use but we will do our very best to include them. • Acceptable photo formats: 1) 300 dpi digital photographs and 2) high quality prints from a photo development lab (i.e. Walgreens, Target, etc.). Please do not submit photos embedded in Word documents. • Please identify each person in the picture with event details when submitting photo’s.
CLASS NOTES DEADLINES FOR CLASS CORRESPONDENTS Spring Issue (Odd Years) • Wednesday, February 28: Class notes and photographs from Class Correspondents due in Alumni Office.
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W. Robert Brazelton 5008 Grand, Apt. C Kansas City, MO 63112-2724 (816) 931-6738 braz.kc@sbcglobal.net The year 2008 has not been an eventful year to this personage. I lost money on the stock market (6%), but so did my brokers (or should have). But the losses they now predict will be soon disappearing, but that did remind me of the fact that one should PAY ATTENTION. Of course, as an economist, I am aware that we are in a recession which is unfortunately spreading abroad, but the predictions are now that said recession will be over mid-2009. Let us hope. The high point of the year was my trip to Denver in April. Rose and Harrison Hayes had a dinner party at their Denver home and invited Jim and Judith (Ames) Rhoads and Margot and Chris Brauchli and myself. A great meal with double entrees; great wine; and good company and memories. They are all well and hearty. The next day the Hayes drove me to their mountain cabin and we then ate at a charming German restaurant right in the mountains – a beautiful view. After Denver, I drove to Glenwood Springs (one of my favorite Colorado places), 2 Colorado parks, Manitou Springs (where my parents sent me as a kid to escape Oklahoma summer heat during the then so-called polio season which was then blamed partially on heat) and there I visited old haunts of pleasant memories. I did not go up Pikes Peak this time (or climb Mt. Manitou as I did as a kid) due to snow of blizzard amplitude which followed me and my car well into Kansas – my car has yet to forgive me). No further travel plans except a Christmas or New Year’s cruise; and possibly Europe in the spring. I had hoped on Europe earlier, but have agreed to write 3 new papers so completing them will take up most of September and October. This may be my “last hurray!” Harrison and Rose Hayes informed me of the 35th Anniversary
of their wedding in Oklahoma City (Congratulations to both---I remember the wedding well and the honor of being a member of it). The anniversary was celebrated by a trip of Hawaii, esp. Kaua’i and the Grand Canyon of the Pacific thereon. I extend my best wishes to these good and longtime friends and for the best to them for another 35 years. Congratulations to the both. I cannot close without wishing the new Headmaster at Casady, Christopher C. Bright, the best of success. Lastly, when I am in Oklahoma City, I hope to see all who are there as I miss you all. If you get to Kansas City, MO, let me know. I always look forward to seeing the classmates. Until then, au revoir, mes amis....BRAZ
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Dolly Flesher 1800 Drury Ln. Oklahoma City, OK 73116-5312 (405) 843-3580 dflesher2@cox.net Last year, Dave and I celebrated our 50th anniversary and our 70th birthdays with a Baltic Cruise. The cruise was our first, and we loved it. I am staying busy with altar guild at All Soul’s Church, our HighRoller investment club, playing bridge and learning to play golf again. I wish I saw more of our grandchildren, but everyone is busy. The 3 oldest are in college, 1 in Casady and 2 are in St. Mary’s Episcopal in Edmond. The 55th Reunion is around the corner. Does anyone have any suggestions? Margaret did such a fabulous job on the 50th. I cannot forget Rowland Denman and Bob Bowles with all of their help. The sad news is that Phil Bass died Aug. 8. He had a massive stroke. Phil was a respected attorney in San Francisco. Phil attended Yale University and the University of Michigan Law School. Ann Sheridan Watson went to Sumit, New Jersey for granddaughter Anna’s high school graduation. Anna is the daughter of Paul Meiring ’77. Ann Sheridan is living with her daughter, Marcia Meiring ’75, helping with her 2 precious Russian daughters, Sasha and Liza. Liza is 10 years old and went on a
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cruise in the Caribbean this summer with Ann Sheridan. She takes each grandchild on a special trip when, they are 10. The Bob Bowles family continues to be active. “Since April, Linda Bowles ’60 was painting for an art show she had Sept. 1 through the end of October. She paints between helping our daughter Hayden to motor around Mady, our 13-year-old granddaughter and walking at a fast clip for an hour and a half around the neighborhood with Boomer, one of their dogs. Mady is in her last year of Westminster School and plays on the soccer and basketball teams. She’s not only the apple of her grandfather’s eye but is a delight. Her best friend is Jessica Cook, Nancy Woods Cord and Ed Cook’s ’53 granddaughter. Next year she will be faced with an important decision… what school to move on to… Casady, Heritage Hall or McGuinness. Hayden retired from teaching at Westminster Church after 11 years. She now spends all of her time raising her teen-aged daughter. Our son Owen continues to develop his artistic talent that he inherited from his mother and may include some of his works in Linda’s art show. My activities are centered around family and business which are still a full-time proposition. I still work out a few times a week, and in the fall I’m pretty much a regular at OU football games. Also, I anticipate raising my level of interest in the NBA with the move of the basketball team to OKC this fall. I’m still working on the ‘Casady Founders Memorial.’ We were ready to start construction a year ago, but the School decided the project design should change to complement the character and integrity of the school. Jim Yoch went back to the drawing board and re-designed, after many meetings with school officials, based on the School’s input. He has completed the design, and it is magnificent, and when built it will be a tribute to the School as well as to those people who pioneered the first 10 years of the School’s history. It’s exciting to think that someday soon the early day history of Casady will forever be preserved. The only glitch is the cost also escalated way beyond the funds that have been raised. We are now working with the School as to how best to raise the additional funds. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.” Margaret Lytle Griner writes: “This has been, to say the least, a roller coaster year! John and I missed celebrating our 50th Anniversary which you and David were fortunate to celebrate, by only a few months. I thought that I would probably spend the rest of my life alone and then Paul Griner
and I fell in love. I’ve known him for 52 years, and we had been such good friends throughout these years. When Paul asked me to marry him it took me about 30 seconds to answer “yes.” So, that led to a wedding on Saturday, May 24 at Emmanuel Church in Boston. We had family and a few friends. It was a wonderful, happy occasion and everything went perfectly, including the weather! The best way to describe it is to repeat what Gregg, my youngest, said at the wedding luncheon, ‘I don’t know how to tell you, but my mother just became my aunt.’ The children are all thrilled. Paul has 2 children, and I have 3, and they, of course, have known Paul and his children all of their lives. So, it is a happy union. We went on a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam for our honeymoon and are really having such a wonderful, happy time together. We both feel so fortunate! I’m playing a lot of golf, Dolly, but I will never be as good as you are! I did come down for the Visitors Board meeting in April and Paul came with me. We had a chance to have dinner with the Bowles, Denmans, Cooks, Meades and Kathryn Powell ’53. I am hopeful that next year when I come down for the meeting in April that we can get together with more of you all. I would like for everyone to meet Paul.” From Jean Russell Finney. “We are still living in Sun City in Georgetown, TX, north of Austin. It is a beautiful community with 3 golf courses, 2 fitness centers, a ballroom for dinner dances and stage plays, lots of ponds and beautiful flowers. We have been here 7 years. Bill enjoys golf and fishing, and I play cards with about 35 other women. We play bridge, canasta and mah jongg. I take exercise classes and enjoy yoga. Our oldest son Russ lives in Austin with his wife and 2 daughters who are 14 and 11. Our other son Tom lives in Frisco, TX, just north of Dallas with his wife. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary last year in Frisco with family and close friends. This year we’ve had lots of company visiting and also have taken some nice trips. Special love to the class of ’54.” Charles Ramsey: “We added 2 more great-grandchildren this year which brings us to a total of 5. I am still enjoying a low level of oil and gas activity. We continue to enjoy lake living on Lake Athens about 80 miles southeast of Dallas. We have a nice apartment in Dallas and are there about 2 days per week and would love to meet anyone in Dallas who is coming that way.” Rowland Denman: “In March of this year, I fulfilled an item on my ‘Bucket List.’ That is, Mary and I rode on the Orient Express. We traveled from Paris to
Venice on the train going through the Alps. I got up early, and we were at the peak of the Alps and snow was everywhere. It was absolutely breathtaking. As we went through Innsbruck, I thought about the Winter Games and all the athletics in that location. They made up our room and served us breakfast in the compartment. We ate as we continued in the Alps looking out the window at God’s great beauty. We continued down through Italy by bus and went to Verona. Then on to Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Rome, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. While in Paris, we went to the Moulin Rouge. As I sat there, I thought about the GI that is in Paris from Slapout, OK. I bet he thought that he’d died and gone to heaven.”
Friends for over 60 years celebrate their 70th birthdays together, Susan Schweinle Denman, Kay Hardwick Davidson, Marilyn Mee Meade, JoAnn Davidor Ivy, and Odilia Russo Dank.
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Joe Rountree 701 Powell Street Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 (757) 229-0909 jrountree@cwf.org Having received very little news rosa, almost all of the following information is sub rosa. I assume most of our classmates have wisely decided in their goldens not to respond to any appeals, written or otherwise. A few days ago the mail brought a vastly entertaining deliverance, Kent Frates’s new novel Don’t Never Shoot Short. If the remaining pages live up to the opening, which is fast-paced, blessed with believable dialog, unforgettable characters, and the beginning of conflict, it will be a humdinger of a read. It is available at bookstores and on Amazon.com. Kent has faithfully honed his writing skills over the years with his essays, fiction, and poetry in his quarterly
political and literary newsletter, Common Sense and his script for the independent film Cockfight. His next book will be a hiking guide to be published by the OU Press in 2009. He and a co-author hiked over 40 trails which they mapped and photographed. Another author who has come into his own was reported by Marilyn Mee Meade. Her husband Bud whose 1st mystery, Marlin’s Ghost, featuring detective Simon Rush and his associate PJ, whose initials coincidentally correspond to those of their first grandchild, Parker Jane, was well accepted. The sequel, The Last Fox Hunt (great title) is just out and in the stores. On the domestic side Marilyn reported that their son Michael has returned from a multiyear sojourn in Japan to enter law school at OU. Marilyn also reported on a 70th reunion (no, not 70 years after graduating from Casady but THE 70) hosted by Marilyn and attended by Joanne Davidor Ivy and Susan Schweinle Denman, back in town from Brazil and Hawaii respectively, Odilia Russo Dank, and Kay Hardwick Davidson. The group photo definitely proves that “age has not withered ….” A purloined e-mail tells that Kay Hardwick Davidson was nominated as secretary of their homeowners association and spent the summer going to meetings and keyboarding the minutes. In her spare time she entertained her daughter Juli and her 3 children and made plans to visit her other daughter Kathy who lives with her family in Toronto where Kay intends to do a lot of relaxing on their deck taking in the wildflowers, birds and the mountain scenery. I hope she leaves her lap top and the minutes at home. Her husband Bill accepted a new job at Dillards at Quail Creek. Odilia Russo Dank writes that she and Dave continue to live fast and furiously since he is running again for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. They sometimes ask themselves what the heck they are they doing at their age when they could be traveling and living a life of leisure but then, as anyone who knows Odilia would expect the answer is “well, there are a few more things that we want to get done.” The Rountrees have done a lot of traveling this year, beginning in February with a 40th anniversary trip to Hawaii’s Big Island where we celebrated in grand style on the lanai of Peter and Susan Schweinle Denman’s beautiful getaway atop the island with a view down a valley of grazing sheep, horses and cattle to the ocean and Maui. I now can appreciate the hyperbole about the Garden of Eden in
the Good Book having enjoyed the fruits from their plantation. Peter, ably assisted by Susan, is a great gardener, and we enjoyed mangos, bananas, lemons, limes, avocados, and almost everything else one can think of except apples from their beautiful trees. Susan has adjusted very well to island life and is very active in their charming church, and both she and Peter volunteer weekly at a fine arts gallery in the nearby town of Waimea. One night the phone rang from Arkansas and I got to talk with Susan’s brother Charles Schweinle ’55 and Sally Hermann Schweinle ’56. They have enjoyed several cruises but have learned to select their assigned table with great care. Their grandson, if you can believe it, was recently married with Susan in attendance. In May we got to repay in a small way the Denmans’ grand hospitality in New Hampshire when they joined us to celebrate my 70th. We took a day trip to the coast of Maine and the highlight was not the waves crashing on the beach, the Atlantic breezes rippling through the pines, or the freshly caught lobster in the lobster rolls but instead a trip to Tom’s of Maine where we stocked up on toothpaste for the rest of our lives. To end on a high note, imagine your correspondent and his better half atop the mighty elephant Boondung (aptly named, especially the last part) in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where we found ourselves in July. Without the athletic skills developed on Casady’s playing fields I could never have had the coordination to help maneuver us through the jungle, over a viaduct, and across a pond the size of Lake Hefner. Thanks Hoot.
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Chuck Morrison P. O. Box 14936 Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0936 (405) 843-9001 cdmoffice@prodigy.net This past June, the month was not only bustin’ out all over, it was also the month for the grand class of 1958 to gather together on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of our graduation from Casady School and gather together we did. However our reunion exuberance was tempered by the grievous news that Martha Nagle had passed away just one week earlier in Pittsburgh, PA after a courageous battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Martha was the very heart, the soul and the embodiment of our class. We all knew she was with us in spirit and her family was with us in person. So while in a sense we
did not celebrate as one might normally do at such events, we did embrace and rejoice our collective exhilaration at having been friends, comrades and classmates for a half a century, an achievement of no small measure. Well, at least we thought so. We began the reunion event with a golf tournament at Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club on Friday morning for those ’58 links enthusiasts. The tournament was skillfully organized by Fenton Sanger. Though I did not play, I’m told it was an exciting match. That evening our first scheduled soiree was a cocktail party at Lori and Dodge Hill’s beautiful home on Country Club Drive. We were all thrilled that T. Ray Phillips’ daughter, Marni Phillips Warren ’90, joined us at the Hills. The original plan had been for the group to go to dinner following the party. The Hills, however, had such a sumptuous array of delectable appetizers that dinner later became only a passing after thought. Instead, we sat out on the Hill’s backyard veranda and enjoyed a delightful evening. Saturday morning, together as a class, we attended an inspiring 9:30 a.m. Memorial Service for our dear friend Martha at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral. The Nagle family had reserved pews for our class so we could all sit together. During his homily, the Dean recognized us as a class, but then he referred to us as the Class of ’38, not ’58. I guess we look a tad older than we think we do, 20 years to be exact! But on the other hand, we did demonstrate that weekend that we act (read ‘party’) 20 years younger than we are. I guess it all balances out. Later that day most of us attended the ‘All Class’ picnic at Casady which began at noon. Finally that evening, we culminated the reunion with cocktails and dinner at Linda Petree Lambert’s lovely lakeside home. The Nagle family came as our guests. Dinner was served al fresco and Linda cleverly had us draw names for our dinner partners to enhance our mix and matching. As the sun set and the reunion drew to a close, we could not believe it had been 50 years! Linda had been with Martha just before the reunion and she wrote me about the loss of her best friend of 50 years. Linda said that Martha was of such good cheer, so hopeful yet pragmatic until the very end that she continues to find Martha a role model for how to die with grace and courage. Linda felt blessed to have been with her until Martha’s daughters, Susan Baer Noerdlinger ’85 and Carolyn Baer ’90, arrived. They gave Linda Martha’s charm bracelet that each of the ’58 gals/women/
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Angry Mob (as the guys term went) had made when they graduated. Linda had lost hers so the daughters could not have given Linda the Hope diamond and made her any happier. Linda reported that she has a new grandchild, Emma – now 1 year old – daughter of her son Greg. With her oldest a sophomore at Auburn, Linda said it’s wonderful to have a new baby to play with. Nothing better than wiggling one’s toes in the sand with a 1-year-old as they did in August at Kiawah Island. Our classmates came from far and near to attend our gathering; from as far as Germany to as close as a couple of doors down the street. Penny Hogan Montgomery and her husband, Dave, came from Greenwood Village, CO. Dave has been retired from Adobe Corporation since 1999 after his last assignment in London which they enjoyed very much. He plays the viola in a local community orchestra and plays quartets whenever he can. Penny says, “He plays, I listen!” They are very active in their church – Dave with Stephens Ministry and Penny with Friends in Need which provides meals, transportation, etc. for those who need help. They are both on a prayer team which prays for the people on their church prayer list and also on the Pastoral Care Ministry Team. They play bridge several times a month and are both involved in a number of groups – some together and on their own: retired friends from their previous fields, a small group at church (sharing, study, worship), old neighborhood gang and a book group. They travel more often now to see family. Their older daughter, Stephanie, and husband Brad, have 3-yearold twin boys, Ryan and Charlie, and live in Corte Madera, CA (across the Golden Gate Bridge and up the coast). Their younger daughter, Maria and husband Gerald, have a 6-week-old son, Tyler. They live in Ogden, UT, just north of Salt Lake City. They manage to get back to England every other year or so and this past May combined time in England with a side trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, to visit Dave’s cousin and her husband who was teaching there. They plan Thanksgiving in Kauai with both girls and their families. Attesting to his adroit management of the golf tournament, Fenton Sanger did all the tee time scheduling and foursome alignment even as he and his better half, Sue Ellen, were preparing to take all the grandkids to Orlando and Disney World early the next morning after the Hill party. Fenton told me that he is retired and that
they now spend a large portion of the year at their place in Cabo San Lucas. Barbara Benham Lacy says that she and her husband, Jerry, divide their time between Palm Desert, CA, and Bigfork, Montana – the mountains from May to November and then the desert the other 6 months after it gets a wee bit chilly in the Montana Rockies. They lead energetic lives trail biking and golfing plus kayaking and fishing. She did confess that Rosie the Jack Russell terrier actually runs the household. Barb’s granddaughter, Lorae Tracy, just graduated from Ralston Valley in Golden, CO, as the Valedictorian. Son Scott Tracy is a director for Sun Microsystems and travels the World. D.C. denizens (well, O.K., it’s actually Chevy Chase), Marilyn and John Montgomery brought news that their youngest son, Colin, had recently gotten married. He and his wife, Svetlana, live in New York City. Meanwhile, their other 2 sons, Hunter and Porter both live in the nation’s capital. At press time, Hunter’s wife, Linda was expecting their 3rd child. They have John III who is 7 ½ and Ellen who is 5 ½. Porter and his wife, Scott, have sons Mac, 3 ½ and Canon, 2 months. The Montgomery’s usually are at their farm house in southwestern France over John’s August 1st birthday but this year their month-long excursion did not begin until Aug. 6. Sue Ann Snetcher Scala lives on 5 acres in Frisco, TX, which is a remarkable acreage considering the urban development in that fast growing part of north Dallas. She has 4 children: Shelley who is 44, Stephen 40, Sheila 36 and her ‘baby’ Stephanie is 28. Rapid urban growth notwithstanding, she loves her tranquil spot but when the need to get away from it all occurs, she ventures off to her Italian home 20 miles southwest of Rome in Ostia Lido. An avid bridge player, she recently took a group of 8 ladies to the home for a few weeks of concentrated play. Roy Williams was there with his friend Ramsey. Roy’s oldest, Stockton, is with the Enterprise Foundation. Roy has 1 grandchild, James. Roy assured me that James was the greatest grandchild of all time. Funny….I have 5 just like that! His other son, Austin, is in Hollywood and has authored a novel. The book, Crimson Orgy, is set in the 1960’s and the plot concerns sexploitation in the making of a ‘B’ movie. Jan and Jonathan Burch have a son, Ryan, who will graduate from West Point and then be commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, United States Army. Son
Jonathan is with AT&T and lives in Noble, Oklahoma, which is south of OKC. Their daughter Crystal is a physical therapist in Chino Hills, CA. Carey Turner arrived from New Orleans where she is still combating the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. To this date, she still lacks basic services such as air conditioning. To confound things even more, Hurricane Gustav was coming ashore at press time. Carey’s son Glenn is an international airline pilot with American Airlines although this past year he has been a negotiator for the Airline Pilots’ Association. He and his wife Tiffini have 3 children, Camille 10, John 7, and Sarah who is 4. Carey’s daughter, Mary Ramirez, is a paralegal with a New Orleans law firm. The real estate business must be good to Heather and Alan Davis because every time we plan to have lunch, he tells me he’ll be coming from a closing. Perhaps we should lunch together more often! At one such recent repast, Alan said they spent 4 days in New Orleans in August with friends. They stayed at The International House, a boutique hotel in the Quarter. A highlight for Alan was enjoying a straight razor, hot towel shave. Echoing Carey’s description of the city scene, Alan said New Orleans has a long way to go. They plan a Christmas sojourn to Las Vegas with Heather’s family. They will stay at the luxurious Wynn Casino and have tickets to see Cirque de Soleil. I understand one’s billfold can get shaved pretty good out there – no hot towel needed. As usual, Sue Suffield Scheck gets the award for traveling the longest distance to attend the Reunion. She came in from Germany. She traveled with her friend Ernst. Her son, Max, is also an international airline pilot, flying for Lufthansa. Sue said Max is also earning his Ph.D. in Aviation and Space Management at Embry Riddle University. He is also a Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Sue’s daughter, Marga, is now Head of the European Bank for Construction and Development (part of the World Bank) for all of China. Shortly after Suff returned home from the reunion, the family held a christening for Max’s daughter, Katharina Elena, born Feb 4, 2008. It was a big affair and Max created a perfect combination of an American and a German celebration. First was the baptismal service in the church, followed by champagne, cocktail, wine and beer, with tortilla chips and dips at Max’s home – a converted barn (built circa 1850). After this reception Max and his best friend fired up the grills and made real hamburgers with all the trimmings.
All the Germans loved it! There were 35 adults with 15 children. After lunch, Max had organized games for the kids (and some adults) – soccer, badminton, basketball, etc. Needless to say, he has a big yard. In the meantime, the baby in her long christening dress was being passed around to anybody who wanted to hold her and have a picture made. Then cakes were set out which included baked cheese cake as well as the cream cheese kind, Black Forest cake, apple strudel, peach streusel and Sue’s famous blackberry cobbler made from berries from her backyard. So Sue, how do you stay so thin? Selena and Gordon Rainey’s son G earned his law degree from the University of Virginia, something of a Rainey family tradition, it seems. However they said he is currently working for a consulting firm in London rather than practicing law. Their daughter, Kate, lives north of San Francisco where she is an Academic Dean of a private school. Kate has a daughter Lily who is 2 ½. The Rainey’s other daughter, Missy, is in Atlanta and she has a daughter, Eliza, who is 1 ½. Elsa and Bill Swinford came to the 50th from their home in Green Valley, AZ. Green Valley is midway between Tucson and the US border at Nogales. Bill said both sons, Beau and Kendall, are involved in property development in the McAllen, TX, area. Barbara Whitney Rogers joined us in transition from her home in Mountain Lake, FL to their home at Oyster Bay on Long Island. In addition to these residences, they also have a home in Prouts Neck, ME. They are avid golfers; she said that her husband, Art, is a 3 handicap. In addition to his skill on the course, he is an artist and carves birds. They have 3 children, Artie who is 41, Alison is 39 and Whitney is 36. From this the lineage extends to 9 grandchildren. Artie has 2 children, Avery 7 and Kate 6; Alison has 5 boys: Jimmy 12, Jack 11, Charles 9, Whit 8 and Will 5; Whitney has Porter 2, and McCoy is 6 months. Contrasting Suff ’s intercontinental transition, Eddie Shapard gets the award for traveling the shortest distance to attend our Saturday evening dinner party at Linda’s. That’s because he and Sandy live about 3 doors from Linda! Sandy is an accomplished poet; she has just published her 5th book of poetry which is titled Grandmotherhood. Eddie says it is a great read and everyone should get a copy. I’ll bet Eddie could even arrange for your copy to be signed by the author! The Shapard’s have 3 children. Daughter Nicole and her husband Jeff Jacobson have 2 boys: Tucker
6 and Teddy 4. Son Nathan is a dentist. He and his wife Katie have Cooper 3 and Sumner 1. Erica lives in Baltimore. She and her husband Russell have Shapard 3 and George 1. Ever the consummate, and busy, host of our lovely Friday evening Reunion party, Dodge Hill still found time to relate to me that his son Mark ’81 is a photographer for Turner Broadcasting and that he travels to the geographic far corners having been around the world twice. Mark has a son named Dodge. The Hill’s middle son, David ’86, lives in Atlanta. David was trained at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and is general manager and executive chef of an Atlanta restaurant. He has a 10-year-old daughter, Eve. Meanwhile, Dodge’s daughter, Laura Lensgraf ’80, is in Houston and has 2 daughters of her own: Claire, a senior in high school, and Laney who graduated from UNC as a Fulbright Scholar. Laney decided not to participate in the Fulbright overseas study program opting to become a Teacher For America. Both mother and daughter teach at the Kipp Academy which is committed to educating low-income students. Barbara and Frank Bolen’s daughter, Leslie Evans, has recently moved from El Paso to Dallas while her husband, Craig, a career Army veteran, has been reassigned to Washington, DC. In Big D. Leslie teaches autistic children. They have 2 children, Ashley 14 and Molly 7. Meanwhile, daughter Pam Davis is in Little Rock and has 3 boys: Michael 17, Tanner 16 and Ty 4. In addition to those who made it back for the reunion, Saturday night we did have a chance to connect with a few classmates who could not be there. I had received terrific letters from Marjorie Thurston and Odile Boullaud Kory which were read to the assembled ’58ers at the Hill Friday evening soiree. I have reprinted selected passages from those letters further down in the column. Then on Saturday evening the assemblage reached both Ann Trent East and Larry Brown through Ma Bell’s long distance service. Ann Trent East called shortly after she received her copy of the group photo. Gracious to a fault, she said she thought we all looked pretty great! Her life’s happenings are focused on trips to see children and grandchildren. In July, she went to San Francisco to see the newest family addition, her granddaughter Julia. Julia’s brother is Peter Trent Savage who is 2 ½. Then in August, it was off to Boulder, CO, to see Harlan ’81 and Steven. Ann said Harlan
is active in environmental work. Then, in September her travels took her to Austin to see John ’83 and Christy Savage. Their children are Will 9, Margaret 7, clearly named after Ann’s mother, and finally John Larrimore who is 4. Editor’s Note: Ann Trent East passed away November 2008. Marjorie Thurston wrote, “Much to my dismay, I find myself in a funny situation. I am attending the Harding 50th with my brother, Robert, who, in poor health, requires a wheel chair and oxygen… .I am assisting his wife with his care which is intense at times.” The Harding 50th was the same weekend as ours and Marjorie was unable to get to any of our reunion functions. We did miss not having her at our events. Odile Boullard Kory, our French exchange student who was with us senior year, called me out of the blue one day last spring. “Bonjour, Chuck! Do you know who this is?” she asked. Well, I confess it took a moment, but of course, I did know! During the conversation Odile said she would e-mail me a letter to our class. I assured her I would make sure everyone read it. The letter reminisced, “…For me, this 50th Anniversary is not for my high school graduation, I had already graduated with the baccalaureate when I arrived at Casady. Rather it marks the end of a fabulous year in America when you made me feel welcome and included me in your lives. I arrived in August, 1957, spent the first few weeks with the Bachrachs (Diana Bachrach ’59 was in the 11th grade) and then went to live with Elizabeth Fielder (Lloyd) and her parents who opened their home and their hearts to me. During that year when you were preparing for college and your future I was observing you and discovering America. My first memory of Casady was meeting Mr. Taber, a young man, wearing a pink shirt, no jacket and his feet on his desk! ‘I must have misunderstood, it can’t be the principal,’ I thought. On top of it, he told me to watch TV to learn English. America seemed a very strange country! Well, I went from one strange experience, like slumber parties or exams with multiple choice, to another like the dating ritual or helping yourself in the refrigerator at a friend’s house. And then there was the fun of singing in Carousel or going to Dallas for a hockey game and always feeling supported by all of you even when you said that ‘I was different.’ Do you remember your Christmas gift to me? The surprise of a telephone call to my parents. The transatlantic cable was
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about 3-years-old and you had to make an appointment with the phone company to make a call. And of course, there was the intellectual stimulation of the classes at Casady and the joy of learning English. (Sometime in the Fall of ’57 I realized that I was not struggling anymore, I understood your conversations even if you were not speaking directly to me, what a feeling!)…. I went back to France and graduated with a degree in English and I planned to teach English in France. However, in 1962, I came back for a year as an exchange student at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. In the summer of ’63 I taught French on Long Island and met Leslie, a Hungarian born radiologist. We celebrated our 45th anniversary this year. We have 3 sons and 6 grandchildren. I graduated with a Ph.D. in French from Columbia University in ’68 and earned a Master’s in theoretical linguistics from New York University in ’75. All my professional life was spent teaching French, first at the college level and then for the last 20 years of my career, I was with the Language Training Program at the UN teaching French to the international staff and the diplomatic corps. Leslie still works/ teaches twice a week, but I am now retired, and since all retirees know what that means, I will spare you the details.” Merci, Odile (well, not for sparing the details but for sending your great letter). Beth and I continue to revel in the joy of our family. As I alluded during my conversation with Roy, we have 5 grandchildren. Daughter Susan ’85 and her husband, Jim Cornette, have 3: Ben 6, Jack 8 and Charlotte Anne (for my mother) who will be 10 in February. Daughter Carey ’88 and her husband Kevin Robertson, have 2: Audrey 3 ½ and Graham who is 7. Besides spending as much time as business will allow at our Pensacola Beach condo, another passion is taking long distance train trips. Watching the scenery whisk by from your rolling bedroom can’t be beat. This past year we took the California Zehpyr from Denver over the mountains, through the Moffat Tunnel and along the Colorado River to the Sierra Nevadas and Lake Tahoe; the Texas Eagle to St. Louis to watch my beloved Cubbies play the Cardinals and the Crescent home from a Retired Naval Reserve Intelligence officers reunion held at Gettysburg. As all of you who read this column know, Martha, besides being my first girlfriend (we were an 8th grade item!) and being my dear friend, was for so many years my co-correspondent for this article about us all. I dedicate this year’s edition to her and her family.
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Nancy Yoch 617 Okmulgee St. Norman, OK 73071-4626 (405) 329-7042 nyoch@buynorman.com Edie and I have heard from or talked to several members of the class of 1960. There are those who have retired and are traveling, those who think of retiring but are busier than ever, those for whom retiring is just a passing thought – “oh maybe someday, when I decide what I want to be when I grow up.” Several members of our class have lost parents in the past year – the mothers of Linda Barth Goldstein, Nancy Burch Wilkinson, George Bennett and my mother died in 2007. Larry Nichols’ father passed away recently and Larry gave a beautiful remembrance of his father at the service, describing him as a “man with a twinkle in his eye.” Jan Pascal Clements reports that her mother, Greenie, is 98, living by herself in Tucson and is as sharp as she ever was. Jan also wanted to thank everybody who got in touch with her when she was sick. She is doing well now and is very busy. She and Bob have 11 grandchildren. Scampy Shaffer Rainey and husband Rob ’55 went to Alaska in May on a National Geographic Tour. They boated, hiked and kayaked through the Inland Passageway, all of which was beautiful and a great experience. She has also been to Philadelphia to see her sister Sidney. The Rainey’s son Bo and wife Susan have a son Max, almost 2 years old and it’s a great joy that they live in Tulsa so Scampy can see them on a regular basis. Their older son David and wife Meghan have 2 boys, Will who is 8 and Christopher who is 12 and will be coming from Virginia for Thanksgiving. When Scampy has time she enjoys weaving. She’s bought 2 new looms and is bead weaving which sounds really interesting. Rob retired about 18 months ago; he plays bridge once a week with a men’s group and is looking forward to hunting season; so is Scampy. Both Bill Robertson and Andy Campbell talked of retirement. Bill retired in May and received his first retirement check in July, now being free “to roam the world.” Bill and wife Jennifer attended 2 graduations this past spring as both sons received advanced degrees. Their daughter and her husband had a child in August so Bill and Jennifer are now traveling to Denver frequently to visit them. While they have no plans to leave St. Louis, having just renovated their home, they are exploring
the possibility of acquiring a 2nd home in Colorado. Karen and Andy Campbell also are traveling, camping in a 5th wheel camper. They took their granddaughter Claire on a trip to Colorado and have been to Port Aransas, TX several times. Andy loves to fish and still does a lot of specialized woodworking. When they’re home he plays the guitar in church, swims in their pool and sees their children and grandchildren as often as possible. DiAnne Davison Carnes has made some effort to reduce her long hours at work. She sold part of her CPA business but finds she is busier than ever with the clients she retained. She and husband, Mike, took a trip to Hawaii’s Big Island last November and have pictures posted on www. diannecarnescpa.com. They are in good health, love their house on the lake and plan to be in Dallas and OKC in November to visit family. Tom Parker just completed 6 months as interim president of the IHEP, the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC. He describes IHEP as “one of the nation’s leading think tanks on higher education issues in the U.S. and abroad.” The position required a great deal of traveling both in the States and abroad and doing interviews about the Institute’s studies. Coming up are “an academic convocation in Slovenia, a UNESCO higher education conference in Romania and a presentation on university ranking systems in Kazakhstan.” His appointment to this position was a great honor. As Tom said, “So much for retirement.” Larry Nichols is definitely not into retirement. He announced recently that Devon will begin construction of a 54-story office tower in OKC which will be home to all their employees and departments that currently are spread out in several locations. It is a very exciting project and will have a tremendous economic impact on Oklahoma City. In addition, last year Devon gave $2 million to the Oklahoma River ferry transportation system. This covers the cost of 3 boats named Devon Discovery which provide a new mode of transportation for visitors to view riverfront development. But Larry was most excited to report the birth of a grandson, John Wesley Nichols, to son Tyler ’91 and wife, Caroline. Polly and Larry’s daughter Sally Starling ’93 has a daughter, Addison, who turned 2 in July. Both children and grandchildren live in Richmond, VA. This past year Edie Keeton Ragland and I have been getting together fairly often – we frequently attend the same
aerobic classes and try to have lunch once a month. Also we attended an opening of Linda Brown Bowles paintings at La Baguette in September. Her paintings are wonderful – we especially enjoyed “The Lunch Bunch” – and did see several “old” friends at the reception. As she reported last year, Brownie is painting, reading and walking (an hour a day). Edie is still working as a psychologist in private practice and recently attended the annual meeting of the APA in Boston where her stepdaughter Meg, a librarian at Simmons College, lives. She has also been to Missouri to see the latest great-grandchild, Kayleigh Hudson. Edie’s daughter Charlotte, also a psychologist, is working part time at the VA hospital in OKC. Charlotte has 2 children, a son Will who is 7, and a daughter Tori who is 10. Tori began playing soccer and Will starts football this fall. Edie is a great fan, attending all games. As for the Yochs, Jim was the recipient of the 2008 Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in College and University Teaching awarded by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. He is still teaching and gave a presentation at the International Word and Image Conference in Paris this past July. After 44 years in the classroom the “R” word does come up from time to time but nothing definite has happened. We did take a trip to Prague, Vienna and Budapest at the beginning of the summer, traveling via plane, train and automobile, but mostly by foot. Our 40th anniversary was in August. I’m still in the real estate business and in my 3rd year of the Pisces Project whose goal is to build a swim complex in Norman. We’ve been having meetings with the city of Norman, the Norman Public Schools, the YMCA and the Brookhaven Health Club, a subsidiary of the Norman Regional Health System. Progress may be slow but the dialog is interesting. I’ve been doing our class notes since 1997 but have no plans to retire from this. Hope that all are doing well and look forward to our 50th reunion in 2010.
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Ann Foerster Ryan 823 S. Flood Ave. Norman OK 73069 (405)-360-1655 ann@hgryan.com Our class reunion last October was smaller than usual but still fun. Attending were Anne Savage Holbrook, Betty Nichols Street, Bill Majors, Brooke Dawson Phillips, Chris Calvert Lee, Whitt Lee, Clark Nye, Doug
Woodward, Jill Bell Cochran, Millonn Bullard Lamb, Susan Hoffman, Toni Botkin Merrick, Ann Foerster Ryan and many spouses. We had our traditional dinner one evening at Brooke’s and the other at Anne’s. We changed the date from June to October to accommodate the majority of the class, but in the end there were many conflicts. As a result we have already designated Father’s Day weekend in June of 2012 as the date for our 50th. No excuses for that one! It seems that New England has become the new residence of choice for many of our class members. Recent mini-reunions included Lura and Lynn Harrison joining Dan and Dodie Williams Headington at Martha’s Vineyard for a long weekend, Penny and Dee Replogle ’61 visiting the Harrisons in Worcester, MA and Dan and Dodie meeting Myra Harrison and Will Watson for dinner on MV. Others in the area include Lynda Leney Leahy and John Powell in Boston. Maybe we should have our reunion there. Had brief notes from several classmates. Romney Philpott recently retired from his many years of teaching high school choir in Littleton, CO. Brooke Dawson Phillips, spent the summer fly fishing in Colorado and visiting Lake Tahoe and Santa Fe. She is working on her next life as the bionic woman by adding a new knee in October to her 2 new hips! Millonn Bullard Lamb continues to teach inmates (yes, at the county jail) to read as part of her job as executive director of the OKC Literacy Council. She also has 6 grandchildren whom she visits regularly. Nancy and Bill Majors are living in OKC. He reports that his life is about average for a person of our age. From Plano, TX, Doug Williams tells us that business is booming at the FDIC. Between bank closings and real estate foreclosures he’s very busy and traveling to exotic places like IndyMac in CA. Jill Bell Cochran and Jack have moved from Chicago to Carmel IN to be near their 2 granddaughters. Jill recently retired. The absolutely most amazing news this year is that David Fleischaker’s wife Pam had successful heart replacement surgery in February at Columbia Presbyterian Heart Transplant Clinic in New York City. As she continues her recovery, they will be living in NYC until the end of 2008. Their children Joey ’95 and Emily ’01 live there also, so they have a great support system. David writes, “I continue to push alternative energy solutions in all forms for Oklahoma, making some headway, while at the same
time cashing my oil and gas revenue checks. Some say my background in oil and gas makes my arguments for alternatives all the more credible. (The Boone Pickens thing.) I say it makes me schizophrenic. However, I’m not the only one suffering slight psychological imbalance from the new world energy order. Here’s one to try on. This year I received the Noble Foundation’s Pioneer Award for work in establishing the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center. Last year’s winner of the same award: Sen. Jim Inhofe.” From San Diego James Morris continues to suffer from spinal and lower extremity arthritis. He says he is “able to do less and less while hurting more” despite braces, cane and prescription drugs. His wife Victoria has reduced her law practice to less than halftime and is a “wonderful life partner”. His daughter Kendra is a paralegal and has a 2 year-old boy, and his son Ben, a lawyer, is expecting a child in January. Having grandchildren nearby is the highlight of his life. Jay Wilson once again left his home in Sarasota FL to spend the summer in Germany. He explored Roman ruins, castles and music festivals. The highlight of the summer was a trip to vineyards in the Rhine and Mosel valley tasting rieslings. His base as usual was his godson’s house in a village outside Frankfurt. “It’s a pleasure to live even briefly in a country with a strong economy,” he writes. From Sperryville, VA Susan Hoffman sends this news: “We just completed our 15th summer of Belle Meade Day Camp. This summer we had 175 campers during the 12 weeks. Our school begins its 2nd year Sept 2. We have had a bed and breakfast since 1995. See photos at www.bellemeade. net. My three delightful grandchildren are 12, 10, and 14 months.” After a long career as a cooking guru, cookbook author and bed and breakfast proprietor, Patsy Bynum Swendson has changed directions and now works with therapy dogs. She helps returning military in rehab in San Antonio. The best “find” leading up to the reunion was Myra Harrison. I heard from a mutual friend that she worked for the National Park Service, so I did a little internet sleuthing and voila! I sent an email to her and got a long newsy update in return. Her husband Will Watson retired from a long career at MIT in 2005. They then moved to Concord, MA, and rented the “Bullet Hole House”, which figured into the first battle of the Revolutionary War in 1775. It’s certainly a fitting abode for Myra
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who is NPS Superintendent of three small historic parks: Longfellow Historic Site in Cambridge, Frederick Law Olmstead National Historic Site in Brookline and the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Birthplace in Brookline. She reports that cutbacks by the Park Service have made her job ever more difficult, but she still enjoys the work and has several projects underway. In addition, they still have her family homes in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Martha’s Vineyard. Her surprising ending to the email is worth quoting. She says, “And (I’m sorry – can’t help myself) GO SOX!! also GO PATRIOTS!!! (My Oklahoma years have left an undying love for football!) GO SOONERS!! GO CYCLONES!!” After a couple of years of driving vacations to the Black Hills of South Dakota and many National Parks in Arizona and Utah, Hank and I went international again. In the spring we were on the National Geographic/Lindblad ship Voyager through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of Costa Rica. Trekking through the rainforests was a great adventure. But the trip that really has left me wanting more was an OU Alumni trip to China. It was pre-Olympics, but we certainly benefitted from all the sprucing up preceding the games. Saw Shanghai, cruised the Yangtze including Three Gorges Dam, toured the excavation of the terra cotta warriors in Xian and concluded with Beijing and the Great Wall. We saw so much but so little! Thanks to everyone who helped with and attended the reunion and who sent news. Our classmates have remained very close and share fond memories of our years at Casady.
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Beth Jopling Shumway 157 Lake Aluma Drive Oklahoma City, OK 73121 (405) 478-7725 – home (405) 659-1267 – cell pbshumway@mindspring.com Linda London Bonebrake writes that she and Ron ’59 are in good health and that the excitement in their lives comes from visiting their 10 grandchildren and 5 children. They enjoy seeing Kathy and Russ Walker, Susan Swan McPherson and Mike, and Julie Nye Baker and Tom in OKC. In August, Linda and Ron went to Dallas and San Francisco, and they went to Naples in October. Peg Malloy spent the summer at Camp Waldemar once again, teaching tennis and producing the final program “with a little
field hockey thrown in for good measure,” she writes. Peg traveled to Egypt last winter, to Ireland this fall and will be going to South America, Patagonia and Argentina this coming winter. Mary Ann Malone ’59 joined her on the trip to Ireland; their parents took a similar trip together about 40 years ago! Peg’s grandson Dylan will be a junior at McGuinness, and granddaughter Maggie will be a freshman there, while grandson Cooper will be a 2nd grader at Christ the King. Pam Harrison McCullough had lots of news. In February, 2008, Harper Collins published her husband, Dennis’s, book MY MOTHER, YOUR MOTHER: Embracing Slow Medicine, the compassionate approach to caring for your aging loved ones. “It’s an anticipatory guide for families, alerting them to practical things they can do to be prepared for the challenges of a parent’s or loved one’s late life journey,” Pam writes. Dennis began writing the book in Mexico in 2003 while recovering from his own illness. The book has been written up in the The New York Times, and the government of Singapore invited Dennis to come for a week in the fall and consult with their ministry of health about caring better for their large aging population. Also in the fall, Pam and Dennis went on a driving/book reading tour to the west coast and back, with Pam visiting in Santa Fe while Dennis was in Singapore in November. Pam is now back at work on her own poetry again, working on a new manuscript, after working closely with Dennis for 2 years to get his book ready for the press. The couple gave joint readings in Point Reyes, CA, as part of the book tour – a first for them. Their daughter Kate is Director of Kaplan Premier Tutoring in Seattle, and her husband Ryan Newby works in the field of software quality assurance there. Susan Swan McPherson writes that she and Mike are busy in OKC, Mike with real estate and Susan with golf, mah jongg, painting, and “3 precious grandbabies!” Both of her sons, Taylor Currie ’91 and Todd Currie ’93, and their families live in OKC. Susan and Mike also spent a week in Puerto Vallarta (my stomping ground!) last fall and a fabulous week with Linda and Ron Bonebrake once again in Naples, and finally a lovely week in Vail enjoying some cooler weather during the Oklahoma summer. Julie Nye Baker writes that she and Tom have traveled quite a bit in the past year: Las Vegas in February, Maui in March, New York in June, and Julie went to Angel Fire in July to golf with friends.
Both of them returned to Maui in August. Julie took up golf about 2 ½ years ago. “I never played before so it took me a good year to learn just to hit the ball and not whiff. Yesterday I shot my best score ever, 103. Maybe I’ll break 100 before the year is out!!!!!!...Life gets simpler the older we get,” she writes. Amen, Julie. Leslie Keltz Dillen has returned to Santa Fe, NM, to join the Casady ’64 contingent after some years in Cambridge. She and husband Fred went to his daughter, Abigail’s, wedding in Montana in June and then spent a month in Santa Fe before returning to Cambridge to move back to Santa Fe. The Montana wedding was attended by Paula Schonwald Keltner and her husband Tom and by Ann McWilliams Moore and her husband Jim. We shared a fun dinner with Leslie and Fred and Mary Lee Potter Colin and her husband, Justin, at the Galisteo Inn south of Santa Fe when the Dillens first announced their plans to return to the Land of Enchantment! Living in Santa Fe for 4 months of the year, I can testify that Mary Lee Potter Colin’s schedule is totally packed for every moment of every day. She may be the busiest person I know. She and her family are fine; her daughter Emily continues at Colby College in Maine. Paula Schonwald Keltner writes, “I have become more involved with hospitality with UN wives of ambassadors and ConsulGenerals, as well as serving on the Off-theRecord board (an adjunct of the Foreign Policy Association). I am broadening my horizons, becoming much more educated in global issues and meeting fascinating and interesting people from all over the world.” Paula’s son-in-law is one of 5 architects who was invited to build a house (Burst *008) on the previously vacant lot at MoMA in NYC. The show, Home Delivery, opened July 20 and has gotten positive reviews. Mary Lee Potter Colin attended the show’s opening. Paula also recounted a completely serendipitous coincidence. She was visiting with a prominent New York friend (originally from China and raised in Taiwan) before dinner and learned that her friend’s son is dating our former classmate Bill Hixon’s daughter! Bill and his daughter and family from Houston joined Paula’s friend and her family in NYC for Thanksgiving. Small world. Morris Galloway writes that he’s still “in the boonies,” although the City finally brought water to his area. “Still taking money from criminals and fighting for their rights in the Canadian County Courthouse.
Usually my 3rd question to them is: ‘Why, exactly, did you say that?’ ….Still looking for a hot chick. …..Developing an appreciation of Jaguars. …There, I’ve summarized. I’ve minimized.” Thanks, Morris. Cress Cresswell writes that he is out of New Mexico. In August, he and daughter Aline closed on the house in Las Cruces. Aline is now living in Memphis. Cress has joined Ann McEldowney in her Austin home. However, Ann and Cress have also bought a place together on the spring-fed Blanco River about 45 miles from the Austin place. They are remodeling the River House. Susan Fryer Boots and her husband Jim spent several weeks in Costa Rica and cruising through the Panama Canal. Jim had learned Spanish and got them through 2 flat tire incidents while they were driving around the island. They have become the parents of 2 miniature dachshunds, Mitzi and Max, and are now looking for petfriendly locations for their winter travels. They continue to be busy with Jim’s 2 grandchildren now in college and Susan’s 5, 3 of whom are in school. Jim’s high school reunion was in September in Washington, DC. Susan says she’s playing more golf – although she doesn’t think she’s improving much! Peter and I continue to enjoy our nomadic existence. We visited in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, and Dolores Hidalgo and learned a lot more Mexican history while we were in Puerto Vallarta last winter. Last summer while in Santa Fe we revisited Canyon de Chelly and were reenchanted with it. There had been so much rain that our Navajo guide was actually driving us through running rivers, and we got stuck, and it took 2 other Jeeps to pull us out. Excitement for the old folks! The older we get, the more special our friendships are. Thanks to all who sent news! Stay in touch, and keep the faith!
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Martha Campbell 2167 Grove St. San Francisco, CA 94117 (415) 221-4189 campbell@mcn.org Thanks to all of you who wrote this time! Susan Russell-Stewart wrote that she spent part of the summer in Alberta visiting a friend from her State Department visit to China. Having been made an honorary Calgarian with a White Hat Ceremony upon arrival, she visited the Kananaskis and Lake Louise, and sail-planed over the
countryside. She also watched the Canadian Olympic Equestrian Team, where the spectators all wore yellow scarves or ties to honor the Canadian troops serving in Iraq. She had visited China on a joint Canadian and US State Department trip, consulting with Chinese Labor Ministers, managers, and university professors about infrastructure needs required for China’s continuing transition to a market economy. Chip and Judy Cheek Hays reported this year from Cambridge, England, where
Judy Cheek ’66 and Chip Hayes ’66 in Cambridge, England Richard is a Visiting Fellow in Clare Hall during the first half of his sabbatical year. Judy has just joined him there after taking early retirement from her faculty position at the Duke School of Nursing. She is continuing as Editor of Public Health Nursing. They will return to Princeton, NJ, for the 2nd half of the sabbatical year. Richard is working on a new book. Their daughter Sarah got married in Nashville in late June; Sarah is now writing and recording music; her new husband, Ken Coomer, is a drummer and music producer. Their son Chris just completed his doctorate in Old Testament Studies at Emory University and has accepted a teaching position in Pasadena, CA—sadly taking his family, including granddaughter Madeleine, to the other side of the country. Bob Anthony wrote in for the first time: “In 2006 Bob Anthony won reelection to his 4th consecutive 6-year term on the state Corporation Commission and now is the longest-serving, current Oklahoma statewide-elected officeholder. He is still the only Casady graduate ever elected to statewide public office. Bob just finished a term as president of the 15-state MidAmerica Regulatory Conference and recently became Chairman of the National Regulatory Research Institute. All 4 of Bob and Nancy’s daughters graduated from Casady.” Bob has his own website: www. bobanthony.com. Marni Hoffman Cooney wrote in as well, reporting on the birth of their 3rd
grandchild in May, a boy born to their daughter Amelia. Another grandchild due in October, will make a total of 4 – 2 girls, a boy, and a question mark …. Marni has been busy with philanthropic work, but took time off in the summer and fall for various travels. First spending several weeks at Lake Tahoe with their family – “slow days filled with swimming, boating, canoeing, hikes, bike rides, games, books, puzzles, and lots of big family meals.” Then she and Michael were off to Switzerland and Italy for several weeks, to attend a wedding and enjoy Europe. Don Peters reported on a busy year: “I, like Chip Hays, had to have prostate surgery last November. The prostate removal was successful, and I have had good doctor reports since then. Everything is back to normal. Our daughter, Debbie, was married July 2007. She lives in Columbus, MS, where her husband John is in Air Force pilot training. She is teaching school in West Pointe, MS, at the Oak Hill Academy. We went to Charleston, SC, for a wedding in April; we also stopped in Savannah for a few days. We took a wonderful vacation in May. We were on a cruise from Shanghai, China, through the Orient, across the Pacific to 4 ports in Alaska, through the inside passage between Vancouver and British Columbia to Seattle. In early August we visited friends in Albuquerque, NM, and Durango, CO, for about 10 days. We are thoroughly enjoying our retirement!” David Cheek reported that he and his wife Adra “have wandered into the new house. Still not organized so that one would perceive that we are staying, but most of the “stuff ” collected over a lifetime is within the 4 walls, but still not all out of the old house. It is all we had expected and in some ways, much more. Between practicing law and the new house, there is not much new with us. Grandkids are great, but we don’t get to see them enough. Spent a week at the beach in July with both daughters, their 3 kids, my mother and Adra’s sister. Great time!! Family makes it worth it. Best wishes to all!” Betty Lou Morgan Stewart sent in the report for herself and husband Michael. “Life remains refreshingly constant. We do quite a bit of traveling to see our children and grandchildren. Kristin ’90 and Andy are still in Charlotte NC, doing investment banking for Wachovia. They have 2 children, Caroline is 4 and Graham is 2. Grant ’93 and Sarah are in Tulsa with Nelson, who is 4 and 2-year-old Maggie. We are so blessed. Grant is enjoying his career in commercial
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real estate. Last month we all got to spend several days at Figure 8 Island off the North Carolina coast. The beach is the perfect place for children. Our whole family does not have a chance to all get together very often, so it was really a special time. This year we have also visited Morton and Libby Berry Payne ’68 in Carmel. Michael got to realize one of his “bucket” dreams of playing golf at Pebble Beach. While in the San Francisco area, we got to spend Easter with Michael’s 2 sisters and their children and grandchildren. We also just returned from Banff and Lake Louise. It was so beautiful … In October, we are going to Buenos Aires for a meeting.” Michael’s law practice continues to grow, but on-line access is allowing them to travel more. Betty Lou still enjoys golf, mah-jongg and her walking group, the Walkie Talkies. In the past year she has visited with Kay, Marni, and Judy when they were visiting OKC.
As for me, I’m still living in San Francisco and The Sea Ranch, studying French and swimming. I’ve been struggling for the last 18 months with a shoulder injury, but my rehab appears to be successful, so it seems I will avoid surgery. I took a 5-week trip to France in May and June, to celebrate my 60th birthday with various friends who came to join me. Then returned to spend a week in Omaha watching the US Swimming Olympic Trials – great fun! It’s early September and I’m still catching up with all the stuff I didn’t do while I was gone. My political career at The Sea Ranch has come to an end (I termed out), at least for the next 3 years, so I’m looking for something to do. Will keep you posted. Think about writing in the next time, all of you who didn’t this time! We’d like to hear from you.
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Rita McNeill Owens 603 Summerwood Drive New Braunfels, TX 78130 (830) 377-5469 ritabook08@gmail.com This summer, the Class of ’68 celebrated our 40-year reunion! Though several of us agreed that we cannot possibly be this old, the calendar is an unflinching reminder. The weekend of June 13 was a great chance for reuniting OKC folks with classmates now living out of state. Bliss Rainey McCord and Gail McLawhon Snow flew in from Maryland and Connecticut to stay with Sue McWilliams, who resides in Albuquerque. Mike Berry and Jo Dee represented the Seattle area, while Will Pape splits his time between Colorado, New Mexico, and Hawaii. Mary Lambert Aldrich and I drove
Class Of 1968 Reunion
Front Row: Jo Dee Berry, Ann Kilpatrick, Wayne Wasemiller, Gail McLawhon Snow, Mary Lambert Aldrich, Sherry Sullivan, Mike Berry, Mark Robertson Second Row: Bliss Rainey McCord, Diane Parrack Mombaini, Meridith Upsher Cassidy, Brown Moore, Will Pape, John Shelley, Sue McWilliams, Cindy Weir Story, Chris Carey Back Row--Rita McNeill Owens, Susan Hemry Thompson, Jim Berry, Linda Polk Klos, Mary Sue Dunlevy Shelley, Roger Dahlgren, Tom Flesher
Gail McLawhon Snow, Jo Dee Berry, Susan Hemry Thompson
Sherry Sullivan, Diane Parrack Mombaini, Rita McNeill Owens, Mary Sue Dunlevy Shelley, Jo Dee Berry, Meridith Upsher Cassidy, Mary Lambert Aldrich
Meridith Upsher Cassidy, Rita McNeill Owens, Sue McWilliams, Bliss Rainey McCord, Gail McLawhon Snow
Sue McWilliams, Susan Hemry Thompson, Sherry Sullivan, Rita McNeill Owens, Gail McLawhon Snow
up together from the Austin area; Chris Rentzel and his wife traveled from Dallas. A total of about 30 classmates, plus spouses and guests, attended the two outstanding reunion events at Hefner Boat Club and the home of Roger and Karen Dahlgren. After volunteering to serve as this year’s class correspondent, I sent out a survey to get a verbal snapshot of each class member’s accomplishments, commitments and goals for “the 2nd half ” of life. I hoped to find out how we describe our journey to this point, including our choices and cherished values. Many thanks to the following friends for their responses: Susan Froeb Papillon is now teaching 4th and 5th grades in Cudos, France (near Bordeaux), after earning a B.A. in French from Colorado University, an M.A. in French from Middlebury College, an M.A. in English from the University of Bordeaux, and teacher’s qualification for primary school in France. Susi plays on a tennis team, leads the singing and serves on the Parish Association in her church, reads a lot (including authors Mitch Albom and Frank Connoy), and swims in the ocean. She and her husband, Olivier, have 3 children: Carole 30, Marie 28 and William 20. Susi had her whole family at home for the summer vacation and is looking forward to a Froeb family reunion in Florida at Christmas. Her goals for the 2nd half of her life are to read more, meet more people, see new places and help others. As a legacy, she’d like to be remembered as a positive person who made others happier. Mark Robertson is a partner in the OKC law firm of Robertson & Williams. He represents businesses and the families owning them, providing capital formation, estate planning and business law services. Though he works “entirely too many” hours a week, Mark also has a passion for reading; his current plan includes reading one book per week and attending a men’s book club which he started several years ago. Mark serves on several non-profit boards and feels especially good about his work for the Gladney Center and Fund. He has served as head of the Law Practice Management Section which has 25,000 members and as a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. Mark also enjoys writing and just finished his third edition of Winning Alternative to the Billable Hour – which is 6th in a line of best-selling ABA books on Amazon. Mark, Ben May, and Jonna Kirschner ’80 were able to pull off the goal of adding Oklahoma to the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival – so last fall, about l.4 million people got to see
the story of Oklahoma and its centennial celebrated there. That project gave Mark a great reason to travel to Disney World at least 6 times over the last 2 years! Mark and his wife Susan have 2 boys: Matthew (l9) and David (16) who is currently at Casady. He looks forward to doing more writing, teaching, travel and exploration, being a better husband and father and – 1 day – enjoying some grandchildren. Bliss Rainey McCord lives in Baltimore with her husband, Tom. Their 3 children are Jenny 30, Hunter 27 and Sarah 26, and they also have an adorable little 1-year-old grandson, Thomas Joseph McCord. Bliss has done several years of development work for a private school, as well as free-lance work in landscape design. Like so many folks, she says she’s still exploring for work that can capture and hold her passionate interest. Some goals for the last half of her life? To have more fun and enrich someone else’s life. Pat Minnis earned degrees from Vanderbilt in math, science and engineering; Colorado State in atmospheric science; and the University of Utah Ph.D. in Meteorology. He has spent the past 30 years at NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia, leading a group which studies the impact of clouds on weather and climate, primarily through the use of satellite observations. Pat and his wife Deborah have 4 children: Lindsay (3l) Kate (29) Anna (26) and Madeline (23). He acknowledged as the best accomplishments of his life: his marriage of 35 years, being a father of 4, overcoming some of his worst failings and developing a successful, recognized research program. What would he hope to do with the 2nd half of life? Continue in his marriage; hold weddings for his daughters; become a grandfather; make satellite cloud observations an integral component of numerical weather prediction models; watch a few more football games – he didn’t get to see many, with 4 daughters; travel; develop friendships; get involved in some useful charitable work. Pat would like to leave as a legacy, to his daughters, the same firm foundation of faith that his parents left to him. He also hopes to make additional solid contributions in his professional field, leave sufficient income for his wife’s comfort in her remaining years, and give to the people he knows, a sense that God loves us. Lisa Corbyn lives in New South Wales, Australia, with her husband, David McCarthy. After earning her B.A. in international relations, she went on to a masters of public administration from the University of Washington and a Fellowship
in environmental economics from Princeton. She is currently director general of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change. Her department includes about 4,000 people responsible for a regional area of about a fifth of Australia, including those national parks, EPA and climate change issues. Working “too many” hours per week, Lisa still makes time to be in a Rugby Union, do Pilates twice a week, see some movies, and go bushwalking in the lovely national parks. She recommended some of her favorite music including a new Dr. John album for New Orleans, plus Emmy Lou Harris, and Rufus Wainwright. Lisa described the best thing in her life this year as going to the World Cup Rugby union in France for 2 months. She had a great holiday, enjoyed the French people and discovered that her Casady French lessons stood the test of time. Lisa says she has no political identification and considers herself a free spirit in terms of spiritual life and commitment. Her best accomplishments in life so far, as well as hopes for her future, focus on building a positive environmental legacy in New South Wales through strong air pollution programs, adding new national parks, and water reform – so that future generations can cope with and adapt to climate change. Wayne Wasemiller earned his medical degree from OU and is in private practice as a neurologist in OKC. He and his wife, DeDe, have two children – Kristin Wasemiller Knutson ’99 who is 27, and Derek ’08 who is l9 and an 8-month-old granddaughter, Jennifer Knutson. After the 70 hours a week Wayne spends on his career, he enjoys his hobbies of golf and wine. The best things in Wayne’s life this year have been the birth of his granddaughter and graduation of his son from Casady. Wayne’s goals for the last half of his life and its legacy are to continue what he’s doing now. He also hopes that his kids and their kids will continue to make this world a better place. Mary Ann Manning Baker has lived in Austin for the past 5 years, transplanting from Houston when the mold and pollution overwhelmed her immune system. She and her husband, George, have 2 children, Elizabeth who is 32 and Susan who is 29 and 2 grandchildren, Peter 2-years-old, and Elissa, 3-months. With a B.A. from Rice, Mary Ann spends at least 60 hours a week on her career as a high school science teacher. She described 2 of the best accomplishments of her life as raising her 2 daughters as scientists. One is a microbiologist who teaches, and the younger
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daughter will finish her DVM in April 2009. She counted her 2nd achievement as working toward her goal of “teaching students how to think so that they can achieve success not only in science classes but in any endeavor they choose.” Regarding her goals and desired legacy for the remainder of her life, Mary Ann stated that there can be no greater legacy than to be recognized as an effective teacher. She hopes to have enough energy and health to volunteer as an advocate teacher for habitat restoration in common spaces and in people’s yards, so that we can keep native habitats and wildlife thriving in urban settings, while we reconnect with the natural world and live sustainably on the earth. Lisa Temple Highley wrote from her home in Idaho Springs, CO. After earning a B.F.A. from OU, Lisa went on to invest more than 752 hours in training and continuing education as a licensed massage therapist for the past 16 years. She has a son, Jeremy, age 33, who is married to Kristina and has 2 little girls, Zeya, 5, and Valyn, 2. Lisa also has a daughter, Rainey, age 35. For hobbies and special interests, Lisa lists her grandchildren, travel, watching professional bull-riding and advancing her study of massage techniques and the mind/body connection. She’s also very happy about opening her own massage therapy office in her hometown and invites us to check out her website at www.idahospringsmassage. com. She is looking forward to returning to Tahiti in November, and she’s very thankful for these chances to travel with a great boyfriend, as well as for being able to live in beautiful Colorado. She hopes that her legacy to the world will be as a fantastic mother and grandmother, as well as a person who appreciated her time on this earth and was a healer. Mary Lambert Aldrich now lives in Austin after earning a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a masters in education from Stanford. Mary’s husband, Richard, is currently the chair of neurobiology at the University of Texas, and they have a son Warren, age 25, who is an art student at the University of Texas. Mary says she has spent most of her working career in accounting or production planning. She is currently retired and hoping to keep it that way. Mary’s goal for the rest of her life is to live so that even the undertaker will be sorry to see her go. Susan McWilliams earned her B.A. from Duke and currently lives in Albuquerque, NM. She wrote that it was great to visit with so many people at our reunion and that she wanted to share that
she is a landscape and still-life photographer who sells her work via word-of-mouth. Jo Dee Berry lives in Seattle and works in applications for a bio-medical company, Becton Dickinson. Describing the number of hours she works per week as “way too many,” Jo gets to the gym when she can but also lists “running through airports” as part of her physical fitness program. She loves travel, attending schools in Italy, attempting to speak Italian, long dinners with friends and family and beginner’s golf. The best things in her life this year are a current work trip to South Africa and another in late October. Other big positives are her kids and the fact that they have been finding their own paths this year, plus the fantastic time Jo had when visiting with Lisa Corbyn and husband David McCarthy in Sydney. Responding to my further inquiry, Jo described some of her work in South Africa, where she helped install instruments to aid in the detection of cervical cancer. She also described some of her trips to Italy, including her favorite stay at a language school in Manciano in southwestern Tuscano. Usually heading out in a rental car, without a map, Jo has a saying that she is never lost – just sightseeing. Sheryl Sullivan earned an A.B. from Vassar and a J.D. from OU. Sherry and her husband Dr. Blue Clark live in Oklahoma City and have a 19-year-old son, Sanger, who is a sophomore at Vassar. Sherry is a family lawyer in private practice. Her interests and hobbies include antique roses, antiques and yoga. In the 2nd half of life, Sherry hopes to travel more and do more collaborative law cases. Gail McLawhon Snow earned a B.A. from the College of William and Mary. She and her husband, Donald, live in Madison, CT, and have 3 adult children, Donald Franklyn Snow III, David Arthur Snow and Allison McLawhon Snow. Rita McNeill Owens. I earned a B.A. in English from Pomona College (2 years) and Oklahoma State (the final 2 years as my parents decided that my living in California during the Vietnam protests was not a location they found acceptable). I married and moved to Houston the week after graduation from college, working there for The Houston Post newspaper and next as a high school English teacher. After 10 years in Houston and another 8 in Dallas, I moved to San Marcos, TX, to complete my Master’s in English at Southwest Texas State University. I have taught English at the college level and currently work as a private dyslexia therapist with young children. The most joyous accomplishment of my
life has been to invest boundless time and love in raising and educating my daughter, Heather. She is now 26 and married Ben Keenan, a wonderful young man from Pennsylvania, after graduating from Baylor University. They have 2 of the cutest little boys on the planet, Nolan, 3-years-old, and Griffin, 6-months. I’m totally blessed to live only 30 minutes from their San Antonio home, so I can share in their lives, watch them grow, receive the love and smiles that only an innocent little child can so freely dispense. I try to take a brisk walk several days a week in my neighborhood, which borders a beautiful river, and I love to hang out at Whole Foods for meals and groceryshopping. For the last half of life and a legacy, I hope to be a woman who lives her life for Christ, serves God obediently, shares freely of love and resources with my daughter’s family, writes a book or 2, travels throughout Europe and am remembered with much love by my friends and grandchildren. Again, my heartfelt gratitude goes out to each of you who shared with us a glimpse of your life. I truly hope that I represented you in this class memento as you would wish to be known.
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Susan Bentley Erickson 4016 NW 58th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73112 (405) 947-0238 ericksonj@cox.net Herb Conley wrote to let us know that he is enjoying life as he and his wife Nancy spend part of the time in Honolulu and part of the time in NYC (their home away from home). Their son Shawn received his master’s degree in performance music from Rice and daughter Liz earned her masters degree in public health from Columbia. Herb remains the lone Conley without an advanced degree; I think there is a tuition forgiveness clause there, somewhere. Herb saw Terry Lee Bradley at PQ Quillian’s wedding, and they danced…again…just like middle school. Betsy Pearsall Davison wrote from Colorado Springs. She has 3 grandchildren which must keep her active enough, but just to make sure, she continues to enjoy playing tennis, officiating volleyball matches, and she has acquired all the necessary gear to get started on the game of golf. Sharon Fitkin Boecking and Henry Boecking are now very proud grandparents who take every opportunity to do what all grandparents love to do… spoil the grandkids (two granddaughters, in
this case). Four of Sharon and Henry’s sons are gainfully employed, so she and Henry took off for 2 wonderful weeks in Uganda; they found it a beautiful and life-changing experience…straight out of National Geographic. John and I continue to be Nana and Pooh whenever we can to 2 adorable grandsons and 1 special granddaughter. Grandson number 3 will be here at the end of December…what are these young people thinking…oh…right. While John administrates at a high school on the southwest edge of the city, I continue to park in the Casady library lot to teach literature to freshmen and seniors who are bright, inquisitive and challenging. I have officially put my field hockey coaching whistle away, but I still love to watch them play, and, thanks to David Holden ’71, I can pace the sideline again with my 2 new knees. Best wishes to you all for continued health.
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Sody McCampbell Clements 1410 Canterbury Place Oklahoma City, OK 73116 (405) 843-4588 sodypop@aol.com Being forced to rely on my memory less and less, these days I can only report what you actually send me in writing – though I’m not above trolling Google for some good scoop. Star Cooper Wiegman w as back in OKC briefly in April when her mother passed away. She loves New England and is very happy living in Maine. Star enjoys working evenings at the Hilton in Freeport as guest services leader at the front desk. In her free time she can be found kayaking,
riding her bike, writing, photographing or on a road trip somewhere in New England, always on the lookout for good music. Joan Boyle lost her mother last year, about the same time her youngest child, Henry, graduated from high school. Her daughter, Ann, graduated from the New School in Manhattan and has returned to San Francisco. “I consider myself a professional volunteer, working mainly with disadvantaged children and families. Larry and I continue to live happily ever after,” Joan says. Scott Trost’s dad says he and his family have moved back to OKC and Scott and Blake Arnold ’73 are working together. Louise Cleary is swimming competitively these days, as well as working in her family’s energy business. Ellen Warner Wilson is a physical therapist, visiting patients in their homes. The Boston traffic is so congested she began riding her bike to appointments and makes much better time that way. Mack and Marcia McCauley Morgan are new empty nesters. Daughter Katie ’04 graduated from Vanderbilt and is living in Washington, DC, working for a Tennessee congresswoman. Daughter Mary Anne ’00 graduated from Casady last spring and is now at Vanderbilt. Carolyn McMurtry took over her father’s oil and gas business after his death. She is also involved in commercial real estate in Wichita KS. She has taken several SCUBA trips this year: Palau and Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon in Micronesia, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Cozumel and back to Costa Rica. Her daughter Paula ’01 works for Pfizer in Denver. Daughter Sarah ’05 is in her fourth year at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and is studying the rain forest and conservation in Costa Rica this semester.
Check out our new planned giving website at ww.casady.org Call (405) 749-3186 for information
Robert ’76 and I are amazed our two boys, Robert ’10 and William ’12 are both in upper school – Primary carpool line seems like yesterday somehow. Both boys enjoy having Mr. Reynolds this year, one in biology and one in genetics.
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Mark Clay 16616 Little Leaf Lane Edmond, OK 73012 Cindy Cathey Waits has been very busy and shared the following……Jim and I have just returned from a church mission trip to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in far southwestern Uganda. We spent 10 days ministering to the Batwa pygmies - building a mud home, converting a school building into a health center, providing Bibles in the Rikiga language, and touring several village schools to determine how we can provide future assistance. We were in an extremely remote area bordering Congo and Rwanda. The wildlife was spectacular, the beauty of the rainforest was breathtaking and the experiences were overwhelming. We learned enough of the language to communicate with the pygmies which really impressed them. We taught the children in each village “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” --laughter is a universal language! Our oldest son, Seth, completed his masters and is teaching Spanish and coaching the swim team at Jesuit College Prep in Dallas. Bennett will graduate from Clemson in Dec. with a mechanical engineering degree. We bought a Mazda Miata last fall (empty nest syndrome) and have enjoyed touring when the temperature is below 90 degrees! (Yes, I can drive a 6-speed!) Next on the list is a total update of our house things. Will be interesting for the next several months. Wish us luck and patience! Sally Walden Fayssoux sent in the following email….Time flies by so quickly, it seems like just the other day you were asking for news from our class...I run into people in the most interesting places. Anne Scott and I found ourselves together in a dog obedience class a few weeks ago. She was training an adorable “puppy” named Dreidel and I had brought one of my Standard Poodles in for a refresher course. Anne hasn’t changed much at all since the last time I saw her at Casady except that she has shorter hair. She’s an attorney. I also run into Robin Schultz Fearnow periodically. I am still working in the Cancer Centers at Baptist Medical Center and at Southwest Medical Center. I am now bringing one of my poodles with me a couple of days a
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week. He has been trained as a Pet Therapy dog and he visits patients at Southwest. We both enjoy it immensely. I have also decided to obtain a master’s degree in psychology at OCU and plan to pursue a career in counseling. I think I’ve finally decided what I want to be when I grow up....this will be the 3rd career change I’ve made in my life and I’m very excited about it. John Tompkins sent an email from Germany, where he was on a 6 month long recall to active duty for the Navy. John joined the Navy Reserve after finishing his residency in orthopedic surgery. This tour at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center has been his only overseas assignment. Michelle and their sons, Michael (14) and Pendleton (11), were able to accompany John for a little more than half of his time in Germany. The boys attended the school on base for the last couple of months of the spring semester. The family stayed until late July. Although they had an opportunity to see some of Germany and neighboring countries, none of the Tompkins returned to OKC fluent in German as John had hoped. In all of John’s free time he is trying to work diligently on the book which he and his father are writing. Susie Smith Thurmond emailed…. Pete & I still live on the family ranch outside of Cheyenne, OK with our youngest, Patrick, due to graduate in 2010. Katie and Alli both graduated from the OU School of Architecture this spring, where one of their professors was Margy Parry Callahan ’73. Katie then married a fellow graduate, Nick Archer with a wedding in our backyard, with my brother Charlie Smith ’75 officiating. His wife Diana Mitchell Smith ’73 came to the rehearsal, then had to miss the wedding to be at Casady’s graduation to help present the Trio Mitchell Scholarship. Bobby and Sarah Smith Crotty’s ’72 kids Becky and Bobby were in the wedding. Jim and Janet Elliott Henthorn ’73 came to celebrate and stayed to help clean up. Katie and Nick live just off Western in Crown Heights, so it really takes me back to visit them. Alli has moved to DC for graduate school - so I may rack up a few frequent flyer miles in the next few years. I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to having an empty nest—or dreading it. But ever since the husband of a good friend dropped dead recently of a heart attack at age 55— I’m trying to make the most of every day. Kurt Rieger sent in the following which I report in its entirity…..“I am glad to report that my daughter Elliott Reiger is looking forward to kindergarten. She is excited that her teacher will be Cindy
Lindauer ’77. Hallie is in 2nd grade and Bertie is still too young for school. In a 2nd email Kurt said his life was so boring that in 2 years he will send in the same note, just moving Bertie into Cindy Lindauer’s kindergarten class. I hope everyone can remember this and we can save the time of going through all this again in 2010.” On a sad note, Dennis Richardson’s brother David ’71 passed away on August 14th after a long battle with cancer. Dennis also lost his mother last November to cancer. I’m thinking about you buddy. As for us, Carmen is still at Casady and I am still doing the oil business deal in OKC. Our big news is that our son, Brian, was married on April 26 to Julia Garrett of Ridgewood, NJ. Carmen led several Casady students to Ollantaytambo Peru this past June for a service project. The group built a play ground for a local grade school, toured the Inca sites in the area and went to Machu Picchu. We are rapidly approaching our 35th, if anyone has any ideas for the reunion, now is the time to bring them up.
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Mary Pons 703 Ponce de Leon Ave. Montgomery, AL 36106 (334) 356-8194 mepons@knology.net Hello Class of ’76. And thanks to those of you who responded. Didn’t really get a great response this time, but it was great to hear from those of you who did write. I hope it will inspire the rest of you to send me some stuff for next time! Rich McLain reports that his family is still doing well. His oldest son, Stuart ’03, has graduated from OU and is working at Chesapeake. Middle child Laura ’06 is in her junior year at Rhodes College in Memphis. The youngest child, Mary, is a junior at Casady. Rich is still working with his business called HomeVestors (better known as “We Buy Ugly Houses”). Diane Rogers Welker wrote in to say that things were going great. Both kids are now married. Daughter Kimi has one year left before completing her doctorate in audiology. Son Trey married a girl with a 7-year-old daughter, and in January, they had a daughter of their own. We are much too young to be grandparents, aren’t we? Diane said that she and Johnny are having great fun in their new role. Diane reports that she can officially retire in about a year, and plans to look for something to do parttime so she can spend more time with the grandkids.
Janell Law Flanery reports that she and Kevin ’81 are doing well. Janell has just finished her term as president of the Casady Alumni Association’s Board of Directors, which she says is doing great things for Casady. She is also still involved with Make-A-Wish Foundation. Janell said that son Bart ’02 is working and Scott ’03 has one more year of graduate school at Missouri. Robert McCampbell wrote “Things are going great at the McCampbell house.” Daughter Ann is in her senior year at Casady, and Ben is starting his sophomore year. Robert said that they were excited about the new Headmaster, Chris Bright. Robert provided some news of other classmates, most notably that at a recent Rotary Club meeting, the speaker singled Bob Samis and Ramsey Drake out of a group of 300 as the 2 most likely to cause trouble. Some things never change. He also noted that he sees Bill Amalong from time to time at Casady, and that Bill’s son, John, is in upper school and on the football team. Carol Cathey Williams wrote that not much has changed except that she has now hit 50, “and getting more gray hairs and wrinkles.” (Her words, not mine!) Carol reports that their daughters are grown and married. Cathey ’01 lives in Piedmont where she teaches first grade and Amy ’02 lives in Houston where she is a 3-year med student at Baylor. Carol is in her 21st year at Casady, teaching kindergarten and coaching field hockey, swimming and tennis. She enjoys the opportunity to teach and coach some of our classmates’ children. Carol is still active with mission work in Uganda. She reminds us that “We are really blessed to live in America where we have freedoms and opportunities. When you visit other countries it makes you aware of how lucky we really are.” Richard Parr reports that his family loves living in Ann Arbor, MI, which he states is a great, vibrant college town with lots to do year-round. Their daughter is now in her sophomore year in high school and is on the varsity volleyball team, so they spend lots of time in gymnasiums. Richard seems to enjoy living in a swing state, noting that “McCain staffers are doing our grocery shopping and Obama staffers pick up the dry cleaning.” No real news from Alabama – still working as staff attorney for the Association of County Commissions of Alabama and still enjoying it. I had lunch with Bill Bell in July, when I was in the DC area for my niece’s wedding party. That was great fun – his family is well, and he hasn’t changed a bit. I will tell you that he always has the
scoop on what’s happening on Capitol Hill, so he is a great source for gossip on the national front. At the time of writing, I am getting ready to join Renee Wade Richardson and several of her Atlanta friends for her 50th birthday celebration in Santa Fe, NM. Margaret Riley Sisson and Beth Coates Bissell will be coming too. Really looking forward to the trip! For those of you who sent news, again many thanks!! For those of you who didn’t, please start working on something to send next time. We really want to hear from everyone.
getting along so well given his age. He is still walking pretty well and eating us out of house. Rebel L Robertson CPA, 214.538.1999, www.oilandgascpa.com Peri Hickman Pepmueller e-mailed. “I don’t have much to update, but I will report that Bill and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday! So, same husband (Bill), same city (St. Louis), same job (rheumatologist at Saint Louis University), same house, etc. Our daughter, Elizabeth, is 3 ½, so she still seems new, is always changing and a constant joy!
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Henry J. Hood 1504 Huntington Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73116 (405) 843-1635 – home (405) 879-9400 – work hhood@chkenergy.com Greeting Class of 1978. This year marks our 30th year of freedom from the halls of Casady. With a daughter starting in 9th grade this year, I am reminded of how good we really had it those 4 years. Everyday she comes home excited about her day’s activities, which evokes some distant memory locked away in my brain of the good old days at Casady. Not too hard to relate, though, when she has the same teachers I had, like Mr. Reeeeeynolds and Mr. Gill, two perennial favorites still going strong on the faculty. The campus has certainly changed since the ’70s, as have the car body styles (no more Cutlass Supremes), but the atmosphere remains the same. Collegial and collegiate. And with just the right mix of tradition and forward thinking. I look forward to reliving upper school from the perspective of my daughter, though not so much paying for it this time around. OK, just a few updates from classmates this year. By the time this publishes, our 30th reunion will have come and gone, and I am sure we will have many more updates on our classmates for next year. Rebel Robertson e-mailed. “There really isn’t much of an update for me to share. Scott and I are still happily living in Dallas. Our careers are keeping us very busy. We try to spend as much time as possible in OKC visiting our nephews, Henry and William Gauthier, who are 5 and 1 ½ years old, respectively. They bring a great deal of joy into our lives. They also exhaust the living daylights out of us as well. Our dog, Jake, a chocolate Labrador Retriever, turned 14 years old this summer. He continues to amaze us because he is
Elizabeth Pepmueller, daughter of Peri Hickman Pepmueller ’78. Jeff Blumenthal e-mailed. “Everyone in my household is growing like a bunch of weeds. Max, a sophomore at Casady, has earned his Eagle Scout ranking and is now working on his pilot license. Although he is flying airplanes, he won’t get his learner’s permit for driving a car until November. My daughter, Amanda, is in 8th grade at Casady and is also a “flyer,” but the kind in cheerleading where other girls throw her up in the air and (hopefully) catch her on the way down. Finally, my youngest son, Jack, is a Casady 6th grader who enjoys hitting drums and baseballs. Speaking of drums, Casady has developed a wonderful music department and all my kids excel in their chosen musical fields. (No guitar players; no Cat Stevens. Instead, the bass and drums.) I am still a financial advisor with Wachovia Securities and am still happily married to Lori, who, besides keeping our household running and the kids scheduled, is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), helping foster kids as they go through a nottoo-pleasant system. Jane Bertschinger Griggs e-mailed. We stayed busy this summer with swim team, tennis and Guitar Hero. Grace is enjoying every minute of 2nd grade at Casady. Her favorite thing is running the track, and she always makes it a race. Luke is in kindergarten at Casady in Carol Cathey Williams ’76 class, and I am the
homeroom mom for the orange area where I enjoy helping out at lunchtime. Luke knows more about Star Wars than he knew about Thomas the Train a couple of years ago. My husband, Tom, is a radiologist at Mercy Hospital, a really great guy, and possibly in the draft to be a soccer coach this fall for “The Jedi”. I see some of our classmates regularly as Courtney Briggs Melton and I have daughters in the same 2nd grade section, and Randy Allen was the hall monitor for Lower Division Parent Night last week. I sure hope to see some of my high school friends that I haven’t seen since the summer of ’78: E’Lesha Balkan Knouse, Cindy Rogers Heinze, Tammy Eddie Carpenter. Steve Mason e-mailed. “In 2007 and early 2008 Greg Clark would welcome me to Java Dave’s with the same laugh, same smile and same welcoming personality from upper school. He was the manager and accountant for Java Dave’s. Sadly, Greg passed away unexpectedly on February 23, 2008, incredibly while preparing to attend his father’s funeral. Greg’s funeral was very positive. The speakers at the funeral described that Greg’s smile and friendly nature were unchanged from high school and that at age 49 he continued to enjoy road trips. Kym and my children continue to enjoy school at Rice (Travis, 4th year), TCU (George, sophomore), and Casady (Marie, 12th grade). Travis enjoys playing on the Rice football team and majoring in history and business. He serves as the Rice representative to the Conference USA athletic government. George is an adviser to the freshman student government, a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, and enjoys coaching the Trinity Valley 7th and 8th grade boys’ volleyball teams. Marie enjoys being a senior, field hockey, the Crier and student council. The Casady senior class with parents from our Class of 1978 recently took a picture for the 2009 Casady yearbook. The group consisted of Caton and Brad Hogan, Ed and Carey Joullian, Marie and Steve Mason, Ann and Donna McCampbell, Casey and Rainey Williams. I am enjoying redeveloping 100-year-old buildings at 10th and Broadway in Oklahoma City, serving as president of the Boy Scouts of central and southwest Oklahoma, sailing, and riding my bike. Kym and I will enjoy 10 consecutive weekends this fall attending Rice football and Casady field hockey games. Kym and I also celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on September 10.”
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In closing, I have to acknowledge our classmate Clay Bennett. Unless you have lived in a cave on Iwo Jima the past year, you know what Clay has been up to recently. As the principal owner of the former Sonics NBA franchise, now OKC Thunder, he has tirelessly and doggedly fought to do the impossible…negotiate to keep the team in Seattle when the city and the fans weren’t willing to do what it took to keep them while at the same time preparing for the contingency of moving the team to OKC in time to save the 200809 season. Oh, and also defend a couple spiteful lawsuits in the process. Observing all this played out daily in the media, we were all rooting for Clay to succeed. And succeed he did. We will have the highest quality basketball played in OKC this season, which will have a profound impact on the image of OKC nationally and our economy locally, and we have Clay to thank for that. More importantly, we should be proud of the way Clay represented himself and OKC in this process. This was a no-win situation for Clay; someone was going to be disappointed and critical of what he was doing. He had to have often been tempted to twist off and get angry and self-righteous with the media and the hostile city officials and lawyers confronting him constantly. Imagine Mark Cuban or Howard Schultz in the same situation. But Clay was cool, calm and professional the entire time, never letting himself degrade to the level of his attackers. The stress this put on him and his family was clearly evident. The greatest compliment a competitor can give an opponent is that he fought fair and hard and with grace. To leave a contest with enhanced respect from the opponent is a great accomplishment. Clay achieved this; no one in Seattle can feel anything but respect for Clay Bennett. His classmates in the Class of ’78 feel that and much more for him. He is a Casady hero. Who would have thought it 30 years ago? Way to go Clay!
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Neel Lane 505 W. El Prado Dr. San Antonio, TX 78212 (210) 828-2247 nlane@akingump.com Vicki Eddie Shadid provides a long overdue update: “Frank and I married 23 years ago. He is the managing partner of Willis HRH in OKC and I have been a stayat-home mom for the last 21 years. Yikes! We have 2 sons, Shane and Blake. Shane is a junior at OSU majoring in marketing.
Blake is a freshman at OSU majoring in Engineering and is a member of the Cowboy Marching Band’s drumline. After 23 years of being OU season football ticket holders, we are now the proud owners of OSU season tickets. (If that’s not being good parents, then I don’t know what is!)” Bobby Buchanan writes from Dallas: “Elizabeth and I recently celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary. Our daughter, Blaire, is 14 and our son, Graham, is 9. Both attend the Episcopal School of Dallas. Blaire is active in school sports, and we regularly attend varsity football, basketball and lacrosse games. I have successfully taken my hostility for all of the St. Mark’s athletic teams (which was carefully developed and nurtured during my years at Casady by coaches who will remain unnamed) and poured it into my current support for ESD against St. Mark’s. I enjoy attending the Casady games in Dallas, assuming they do not conflict with any of my favorite TV shows. Many of our classmates will remember Mr. (Greg) Randall, English teacher and golf coach. Mr. Randall now teaches and has taught high school English at ESD since 1982 (was the Class of 1980 that bad?). Mr. Randall is either Dorian Gray or he was about 20 years old when he taught us, because he looks exactly as I remember him.” Karen Mills Bevers reports from Colorado: “Sam (16) spent this summer working as a Boy Scout counselor at camp. I am delighted that he is taking care of other people’s children and saying “No”.... endlessly. He received his Eagle scout this year and is the ‘go to guy’ for all our thorny knot problems. Caleb (11) went through Gameboy withdrawal this summer as we spent 7 days canoeing the Missouri River in Montana. It was a trip of epic proportions following Lewis and Clark’s return journey. Traveling with 9 people and 1 dog, we staved off discomfort with dry ice, steaks, beer, solar showers and guacamole. Ed is still a paramedic supervisor and works at his backyard forge making bone handle knives in his free time. I continue to work part time in my psychotherapy practice, put up a website this year and dabble in making art. After our spring break trip to OKC, we traveled to Santa Fe to tour with friends. I can only describe my surprise and delight when Mr. and Mrs. Larragoite checked into the hotel right behind us! It was a great joy to catch up and we learned more about his family in Santa Fe and shared stories.” I recently had a wonderful dinner in San Antonio with Dan and Laura Hill Lensgraf, who now live in Houston. Laura
writes to fill you in: “Our oldest daughter, Delana, just moved to Houston with a job with Teach For America. Delana graduated last December from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After graduation, she spent 5 months in Argentina, traveling with her long-time boyfriend Lorenzo, another Carolina grad. We are thrilled both chose to live near us! Our youngest, Claire, is a senior at Memorial High School. She is quite happy being a senior as with that title comes more freedom. She is working and getting her applications ready for college. She will probably land at LSU or Oklahoma. As we lived in Louisiana for 3 years, Claire has lots of friends now at LSU. Of course her daddy wants her to consider Norman! Dan’s job keeps him busy – he is CFO for Scarab Imaging, a litigation support software company. I am still teaching 8th grade English at KIPP Academy Middle School, a great job that lets me combine teaching reading, writing and photography. We see the Shaffers and Hogans – it is fun that our high school children are all friends.” Now for our update. My wife Allison was recently curator of a show of World War I posters for the San Antonio Library that is traveling the country. Our sons, Andrew (16) and Shelby (14), are now in high school, and Anna (8) is in her 3rd year of a Spanish immersion program. We have completed yet another phase of renovating our 80-yearold house—so please visit us. Last winter, we managed to slip in several ski trips; the boys bomb down the mountain, while Anna prefers tree-skiing and jumps. Last summer we visited Quebec City and Montreal— beautiful old European-like cities, but without the long flight and poor exchange rate! Sadly, Hurricane Ike hit the gulf coast, and soon after another wave of refugees to our town hoping to rebuild their lives. These events remind us how blessed we are.
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Elizabeth Breeding Royse 3837 Wentwood Drive Dallas, TX 75225 214-369-4545 home 214-697-6700 cell meroyse@att.net Elizabeth Lowe Ahearn writes in to share that she is currently chair of the dance department at Goucher College and director of the Pilates Center at Goucher College. She also teaches several Honors and GT classes at Carver Center for Arts and Technology. Recently, Elizabeth was honored to be listed in the Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Dance and Who’s Who
of American Women. Elizabeth performed as a guest artist for the Doris Humphrey Institute in June and has plans to design the magnet school curriculum for Baltimore County Schools. She and Tom reside in Baltimore, MD, with their two children, Alexandra (9) and Brandon (7). Both attend St. Paul’s School. Elizabeth was home in August and got to catch up with Alecia Felton George who continues to do well in OKC. Terri Brown Benear is doing great in OKC. With one daughter at college and another going to college in a year, Terri decided to go back full time to work. Terri is the buyer for the gift department at BC Clark Jewelers, downtown. She is also the assistant merchandise manager, special events coordinator, and she handles corporate gifts. She loves her new job! BC Clark’s downtown store was voted “2nd coolest” large jewelry store in the nation! Alix is a sophomore Nutrition Major at TCU and lives in the Chi Omega house. She is active in student government and is a Connections mentor. Kate is a senior at Casady and is getting ready to start applying to colleges. She loves to sing and loves participating in the plays and musicals, Gales, Environmental Club, Little Theatre, choir, yearbook staff and Acolytes. She is a busy girl! Troy is staying busy but has cut back on golf due to a shoulder injury. He has been a great support for Terri since she went back to work. Amy Silverman Cohn and her husband, Brad, are now “empty nesters” as all of their children are now in college or out working on their own. Amy is still selling radio advertising and Brad is in the recruitment business. One of Amy’s highlights this year was meeting David Cook from American Idol. Amy attended the finale of the show and when David Cook visited his hometown of Kansas City, he came to the radio station where Amy works. Chris Bohanon wrote to share that he and his wife, Suzanne, as well as their children are all doing well just outside Washington, DC. He also shares that Chris Johnson and his wife, Kenya, just had their first child – a boy named Christopher – in October 2007. Congratulations Chris and Kenya!!! We were transferred back to San Antonio in August 2007 from Dallas, as Mark was named Executive Vice President, Labor Relations for AT&T. We spent the first 10 months adding on to our home and finally finished the end of May. Three weeks later AT&T announced the relocation of its headquarters to Dallas, and we were in the 1st group to relocate. We found a wonderful
place to call home and arrived back in Dallas the day before school started. Noah (7) started 1st grade this year and is doing really well. Having only been gone a year and having kept in touch with his buddies, this was a very easy move for him. He is very active in soccer, flag football, basketball and baseball – he is all boy. Mark continues to enjoy his job and is doing well. We caught up with Tiffany Harrison Sweet and her family in Telluride this past spring. They are all doing great! Tiffany and Jon welcomed a precious baby girl named Samantha into their family in May. Big brothers, Harrison and Owen, are both doing great as well. I also saw Alyson Levy Ray over the summer. Her girls – Katie, Becca and Lexi – keep her very busy. Her girls babysat Noah one afternoon while I was house hunting and Noah had a blast! Her husband, Joe, continues to try to keep up with all of the girls. I have loved my position as class correspondent for the past 10 years, but it is time to pass the torch on to someone else. If anyone is interested, please contact Betty Jane Garrett, our new Director of Alumni Relations at 405-749-3162 or garrettbj@ casady.org.
Mike Ellis ’83, Graham Bennett ’12 and Mark Bennett ’83 on the sidelines before the Casady vs Heritage Hall football game. Mike and Mark were honorary captains.
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Eve Mueller Henson 2730 Brandon Road Upper Arlington, OH 43221 eve@sparkspace.com Sean Coyle and his wife, Angela, are excited about their son Andrew beginning Casady’s pre-K program this year! Fouryear-old brother, James, will be right behind Andrew next year. Sean – a financial adviser at Smith Barney – still hangs with a bunch of the Casady brothers, but not at the old hangouts like Sammy’s Pizza, the Rat Roads, or the Boat Club!
Philip Bohanon’s girls are ahead of Sean’s boys at Casady, with Meg in 2nd grade and Julia in 1st. Philip is in commercial real estate sales and his wife, Kim Looney ’89, stays busy with the girls. Philip adds that Greg Gray is finally off the bachelor market. Greg married in May and now lives in Bahrain with wife Christina. Greg crosses a bridge to Saudi Arabia to work every day in the oil and gas services industry. That sounds like an interesting life!
Scott McLain’s ’84 wife Janet with her two sons Davis and Grant. Scott McLain writes that he still has a headache from Greg’s New Orleans wedding! Scott also reports that Andrew Thomas is a newlywed. As for Scott, stepson Davis is 12 and son Grant is 7. Both kids go to Heritage Hall. Yes, Scott knows he’s a traitor to Casady, but Scott’s wife Janet had Davis there before they even met, so don’t give him too much grief ! Scott is very busy with his real estate company – a local HomeVestors franchise (the We Buy Ugly Houses people). But his off-shoot company, Red Dirt Lending, is Scott’s passion… loaning money to “flippers” who buy houses cheaply, fix them and resell them. Scott and Janet have had a tough fight the past year, with Janet battling breast cancer. Janet is doing well and fighting aggressively. Scott says it makes you rethink stuff.
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Kim Keim Laub ’84 with Hayden.
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Down the road in Tulsa, Kim Keim Laub is living a great life. Married 6 years to Mike, they are having a blast with 3-yearold Hayden. There hasn’t been much peace and quiet since he was born, but Kim is loving every minute. Mike also has 12 and 10-year-old girls who visit, so their days are quite full at times. Other than her work in the lending business, Kim has a hobby of constantly doing home improvement projects. Michele Walters and her husband, Mark Carey, are busy in Arlington, VA, raising 5-year-old Matthew and 3-year-old Julia. Their trip to Bethany Beach, DE, in July was a blast with Michele’s parents, Kelsey (Price) ’61 and Roland Walters ’61, and sister Allison Walters McElhaney ’87. Michele regrets missing Laura Wilkinson Gable’s summer trip to Baltimore and Washington, DC, which led Laura to see Lisa Thompson Campbell and Lisa Larragoite Kohn.
Bryan Weidner ’84 with wife Tiffiny and their son Repp David Dean Weidner born Sept. 19. Bryan Weidner writes the cliff notes version of his life… Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania Med School, Duke residency, stops in Seattle, Birmingham, Albuquerque… and they’ve all led him to his current role as a Pediatric Surgeon at Florida Children’s Hospital in Orlando. Dr. Weidner also has a Mrs. as of last February when he and Tiffany said I do in Fiji. New word is that they just had a baby, Repp David Dean Weidner born on Sept. 19. Bryan is the Godfather to Jay Henry’s son Lucas. And he still keeps in touch with Charlie Walker, who he spent a summer traveling with in Australia. (Charlie, I still have our prom picture!)
Mike Johnston ’84 and daughters Lilly and Abby.
Kristin Davis ’84 with daughter Lara. The big news for Kristin Davis is that she’s dating again, after finding the courage to divorce her ex after 22 years of marriage. She’s happy with her new status, but finds dating hilarious, not like it was decades ago! Kristin is working for a start-up women’s health web site called EmpowHer.com.
Also living with a new addition to his family, Mike Johnston writes from Nebraska. Lilly is now 2, joining big sis, Abby, who’s now a 7th grader. Mike sold his piece of the direct marketing business and has a new career, heading up sales for an HR outsourcing company for small businesses. Mike and Jenny will head to OKC for Thanksgiving and look forward to catching up with classmates! Sixteen years later, Traci Rose Graham is still in Houston. She and Todd are raising 3 daughters, ages 16, 13, and 10. All are athletes, so you know how Traci spends her days! Her middle child just went to Casady’s field hockey camp!
And better late than never, Suresh Dutta writes in for the 1st time! He says he’s a cancer specialist in San Antonio. (He’s being pretty modest, I must say. Just Google him.) No kids yet, he writes. Younger brother, Anil Dutta ’87, is a surgeon in San Antonio, raising a little boy and girl. Thanks for writing in Suresh. Don’t miss the next reunion! As for me, life is good after television. I am now the Chief Detail Diva (I swear, that’s what it says on my business card!) at sparkspace, the business conference center Mark started 8 years ago here in Columbus, OH. That means I am the list-maker who carries out his dreams (he’s the chief imagination officer)! Our desks touch each other, which usually makes most people say, “I could NEVER work with my husband!” But it works for us. He’s the boss at work, and I’m the boss at home, where I am loving so much extra time with our 8-year-old, Hunter, and our 7-year-old, Marissa! I can always go back to TV, but I can’t go back to their childhood. Hope you are all happy and healthy!
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Shelby Sullivan 11133 Springhollow Ct. Oklahoma City, OK 73120-5057 shelbyelaine@cox.net John and Ellie Lunde Shorb had a busy summer: “Catherine, eleven in 6th grade, went to Camp Medolark in Maine for 2 weeks. John and I drove up to retrieve her and then spent a week with John’s parents in Maine. On the way back, we stopped to enjoy waterskiing with friends on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, which was lots of fun. As of this writing, son Jack, 13 in 7th grade, is away at TASIS camp in Lugano, Switzerland. I wish I could be a camper myself – they take acting, public speaking, sports, and then they travel around Italy and Switzerland 2 days a week. Jack is loving every minute. His roommates are from China, Egypt and the Dominican Republic and he says there are few Americans there this year. Truly, he is having a fabulous experience. Longtime friends of ours celebrated their 10th anniversary in Galicia, Spain, in August, so we all went to enjoy that time with them. John is happy with the landscaping business and I have been working as chair of the 15th Annual Washington Monuments Lunch to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association to be held Nov. 12 in Washington, DC. We expect 500 folks, so I am scampering around getting
corporate and individual sponsorships and helping committee members obtain auction items. Once the holidays come, I expect I will be “chilling” in every sense of the word. Brother Chip Lunde ’89 and his wife Wendy live nearby with their adorable son Charlie (a precious, funny, joyful toddler). It’s lots of fun to have another “little man” in my life now that I am officially the parent of a teenager. Hugs to all.” Tanja Krous Boyd wrote: “Nothing new to report really for the Casady newsletter. Philip will be 10 in August can’t believe it. He’s started at Casady this fall in the 4th grade. He’s my sweet, inquisitive braniac and thank God, he still loves me. Soon he’ll be a preteen and probably not speak to me for years. Cole will be four in September. He’s fiercely independent and often tells me I’m wrong. Can’t believe someone so small can be so bossy! Sad thing is sometimes he’s right. These guys are the lights of my life. Aaron and I enjoy traveling alone several times a year - we love Southern California, the Caribbean and my favorite - Paris! Our girls night out get-togethers continue to be fun and a great testimony to the timelessness of good friendship.” We had a first-time writer this year! John Greenberg sent a great message: “This is the first time in 20+ years that I’ve written in to my Chum-alums to read anything that I’ve been doing, not that the past several years have been uninteresting, but I finally have something to perhaps rival all those classmates who have been to the moon and back. This past summer has been quite the wild ride. After recording a project with my new group, ‘Walt Wilkins & the Mystiqueros’ (pronounced mystiquerosdoesn’t mean a thing or translate in Spanish so don’t ask Senor Larragoite about it), for Palo Duro Records, we released the CD “Diamonds in the Sun” this past July to rave reviews. As of this week (Sept. 24th), the CD is No. 7 on the nationwide Americana chart in some good company with folks like Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Alison Krauss & the Subdudes to name a few. I would say that the most noteworthy happening was our trip to Washington, DC, to appear on XM Radio channel 12. We played a great set that they recorded in the studio where Paul McCartney had just done a taping a few weeks before. It’s supposed to air in the next 5 to 7 weeks. Not much else to report. Finally got some perfect weather here at my little home overlooking the beautiful Texas hill country. Hope everyone is doing well. Anyone a grandparent yet??” John’s
email address is jmgtex@tstar.net, ph: (512)755.5755 if anyone wants to catch up. Paul Brown in Oklahoma City writes: “My kids are doing great. My daughter Chloe is 8 and in 3rd grade at Casady, Paxton is 10 and in 5th grade at Casady and Price is 13 and in 7th grade at Heritage Hall. All the kids are doing well, and we have the typical sibling rivalries compounded with the Cyclone/Charger dynamic. I am still working with David Brown at Meyers-Reynolds and traveling frequently around the States and in Europe.” And Braden Garrett wrote in from OKC and said that after 2 years in San Francisco and 6 years in Kansas City, he and Betty Jane (Harvey) were enticed to return for a business opportunity in 2007. Braden is in the insurance industry, and Betty Jane joined Casady in August as the Director of Alumni Relations. Their children are in their 2nd year at Casady with Abby in 4th grade and Blake in 2nd grade. Email Betty Jane at anytime for anything Alumni-related: garrettbj@casady.org
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Lisa Holbrook McDonald 2925 Lamp Post Ln. Oklahoma City, OK 73120 (405) 748-3872 lmcdonald6361@cox.net The class of 1988 celebrated our 20th Reunion in June. We had a great turnout with 48 graduates plus several others who spent most of their school years at Casady. The weekend started with a gathering at Café Nova on Friday night. On Saturday, many classmates attended the All Class Picnic at school. Then we had a fun, filled evening at Libby and Todd Naifeh’s house. A BIG THANKS goes out to Todd and Libby for hosting the party at their wonderful home!!
Class of 1988 held their 20th reunion in June. Thanks to all of you who responded to my plea for information. We actually had a few 1st-time responders. Buddy Robinson now lives in Far Hills, NJ, and is General
Counsel of Silvercrest Asset Management Group in Manhattan. His wife, Catherine, is expecting their 4th child in November to add to Lily, Will and Margot. They get back to Oklahoma once a year or so to see family and friends. Patrick Earnest was also a first-time responder. He reports that he lives in Norman and is working in hospitality. Kimberly Welch Hassmann and her partner, Brandon, were at the reunion. Kimberly lives in Louisville, KY, with her 2 daughters. She and Brandon own 3 dance studios in the area. From what I can tell from pictures, they showed some classmates how well they can dance! Also in the Louisville area is Jackson Woodward and his wife Dorothy Jane. They have 3 kids, Doe (4 ½), Jack (3), and Mae (1 ½). Mike and I got to attend the Kentucky Derby with them in May. What a sporting event! Jana and Kent Chapline still live in the DFW area. They have 2 children, Emily (11) and Blake (9). Kent is still managing the content part of the website for the CBS station in DFW and teaching part-time at TCU. He says they are both “rewarding and fun.” He also reports that he is “looking at starting on my Ph.D. in digital journalism at UT Dallas in the spring. We’ll see what happens.” Leslie Bolen Evans has recently moved to the DFW area. She is currently teaching at Carrollton Elementary in the Special Education Department. Mollie (7) is also in school there. Ashley is 14 and a beautiful young lady. Chris and Jill Timberlake Willis also live in Dallas. She says things are still the same with their 3 girls. Cory and Christi Shdeed Morrow LOVED the reunion. Her girls, Rachel and Sarah, are in 1st grade at the Episcopal School of Dallas. William turned 2 in August. Merry and Chad Vose are also in Dallas. He also said he had a GREAT time at the reunion. They spent the summer in Montauk, NY, and encountered the “Montauk Monster”. Not exactly sure what it was, but it made his boys a little nervous. Aimee Zedlitz has this to report. “Things are great in Dallas… still working as a financial adviser for Smith Barney (10 years now). Mom of 3 kids! Abby (5), Alex (3), Coleman 1 month. Things are busy. Makes me wonder how our parents did it and seemed to make it look so easy? Abby loves ballet and cheerleading (God is testing me) and is very sweet. Alex is an amazing soccer player (Thank you Lord!) and is all boy – (should have named him Dennis the Menace). Coleman is very sweet and seems to have been born with the 3rd child “I just
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roll with anything attitude” (Thank you Lord again!). My partner Amy (yes both named the same) is a wonderful person, and we seem to be laughing through all the new experiences together. Life seems to be a collection currently of spilled milk at EVERY meal, crayons on the wall, couch, or car, carpooling, Sesame Street episodes, no sleep, Spiderman masks, missing pacifiers, and All American dolls (God help me!). At times I feel like I may be crazy and other times I realize these are truly the best times of our lives. We feel totally blessed. Can’t wait to read about everyone else and hear more about the reunion. Here’s to the great class of ’88.” Thanks Aimee for your great report! Robert Goodno also is living in Dallas. His wife, Jennifer, was 1 of several women at the reunion expecting babies this year. They are due in October with twins, 1 boy and 1 girl. Robert has taken a new job with TXU (an electricity retailer) managing their P&L group. Will and Lisa Buxton Mathis are still in Houston. Their oldest son, William, started kindergarten at St. John’s this fall. She said that Eric Lombardi is the head of Middle School at St. John’s. Nelson (4) attends Pooh Corner. She reports they are busy with the boys and trying to balance it all. Dr. Carlye Rose Graydon is also in Houston. She reports that she is “still working in Houston as a veterinarian at my same practice; Cole just started kindergarten (sob, sob) and my youngest, Emily, is starting preschool (super-sob)… but with my new-found freedom of 1 day off a week sans kids, I am re-training for marathons… post knee surgery though… as best I can. Oh and it was a blast to see everyone at reunion!” Anne Yoakam is living in NYC. She said the reunion was the highlight of the summer. Her 4-year-old daughter, Rosemary, is starting her 2nd year of preschool at The Episcopal School in New York City. Anne is taking bridge lessons now instead of going off to a high paying job on Wall Street. Anne reports she did a lot of traveling this summer, including Wyoming and the Hamptons. Hunter Williams is also in NYC. He reports he is still “doing the advertising thing. No weddings or kids. People can check out my website – hunterhwilliams.com to see what I’ve been doing work wise.” Missi and Kelly Vandever are still in Santa Barbara. He reports “Ava (5) and Amelia (3) are getting ready to start school. We have had a great summer – enjoying the beach, playing tennis and loving
the weather. Our company is starting development of a retirement community in Albuquerque, NM.” Chris Kelly reports from Nashville that “my wife and I moved back here from Dallas last summer, and we built our new home just southeast of Nashville proper. I am working in-house for a hospital company, and my wife works for a TN Congressman, Lincoln Davis. We are doing great, and really enjoyed the reunion. It was great to see everyone.” Chris is also announcing the women basketball games at Vanderbilt. Several other classmates who traveled to the reunion were Mark and Molly Drew Bland, Chris and Heather Moran Biles, Craig and Laura Fisher Clark, Mark Parker, Fred Lutz, Will Ellis, Nikki Hatley Unfred, Allison and Scott Foster, Shannon Fitzgerald Bennett and Kevin and Carey Morrison Robertson. As for the classmates in the OKC area, Roone and Anne McKinney Richmond have both of their girls at Casady. Emma is in 4th grade and Lucy is in kindergarten. Anne and the girls spent the majority of their summer in Maine playing tennis and sailing. Kit and Chelle Henderson Greene also have girls at Casady. Jessica is in 6th grade and Kiki and Caitlyn are in 4th grade. Chelle is staying busy selling real estate. Barbara Brown Willis reports that “My husband Brett and I had a terrific time at the reunion. This was the 1st one that I have attended and it was really a treat to catch up with and learn about so many of you. Brett and I live in OKC with our daughter Kelly (3) and our son Mark (19 months). We are expecting another boy in early October. Goodbye “man to man,” hello “zone!” Elizabeth Barnes Buckley also reports “I had a great time seeing everyone at the 20th reunion. It was fun to reconnect with old classmates…did I just say old? Thanks so much to Barbara and Sarah for organizing a great weekend. Of course, thanks to Todd and Libby for hosting us! It has been a busy year with family, work and travel. In my free time I have learned to row, which is very challenging, but great exercise. I was also taught how to kayak by an Olympic Gold Medalist, talk about humbling! I have been playing tennis, golf and jogging (slowly!) I enjoy spending time with Anna, a 2nd grader at Quail Creek Elementary, and Charlie, pre-k at King’s Gate, with all their extra-curricular activities. I recently bought a house that my kids adore since it is down the street
from Quail Creek Park. I was promoted to director of sales and services at the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau. I am fortunate to have a job that I truly love. I get to promote Oklahoma City as a convention and sports event destination. Our city looks so good these days…it is fun to show it off for a living! Look forward to keeping connected with everyone on our Class of ’88 Facebook page!” Sangeeta Atwall Alleman reports that “my family has been doing well. My daughter is almost crawling and my son is in kindergarten. So life is great. I am still working and my husband, Jody, runs our internet business for JSA internationalcheck it out. Anyway, I really enjoyed the reunion it was a great time to catch up with old classmates. Everyone looked wonderful and it was fun!” Ashley Glenn McHone also reports that “the McHone household is very busy these days with two kids under the age of 14 months. Molly was born June 28, 2007 and Caleb was born June 17, 2008 (reason I did not make the reunion). Yes, that makes them just under a year apart. So taking care of kids is pretty much what I do…oh yeah, I do work as a business analyst in the IT department at INTEGRIS as well.” Ryan Cunningham apologizes for missing the reunion. He said he already had plans by the time the date was set. (Ryan, the summer reunion is always Father’s Day weekend.) He is still “helping hurt people” by practicing law with Marcus Mears. He is also doing a lot of painting and has been featured in Oklahoma Today magazine. Bryan Geiger’s wife, Sarah, was kind enough to respond for him. They have two children, Christopher (9) and Sydney (5). They are busy with their school and sports. Bryan is senior VP of commercial real estate at BOK. Hal Moffat kept his creative report short – “Here’s the haiku-scoop from the Moffatt Compound in Edmond, OK: Hot summer Now school starts Parents always working The spaghetti sauce is boiling Dinner” Bruce and Bebe Bolen MacKellar had a busy summer. She reports that “my brother, Nelson ’93 married Rachel Samara ’96 on July 12th. That was a really special time for our family, as it was also my parent’s 40th anniversary. Bruce and I were in the wedding party and our son, Bolen, was the ring bearer. Needless to say, he did not want to go home. Since then, we have been enjoying summer, vacationing
in Michigan with Bobby and Libby Bradshaw Nelson ’93 and their daughter Charlotte and tending to Bruce’s vegetable garden. If you need tomatoes stop by!!!!! Bolen will be starting the toddler program in September and Bruce and I are looking forward to being involved at Casady in a new capacity. Thanks to everyone involved with the reunion. We are looking forward to 25!!!!!!!!!” Simone and Peter Fulmer “are still living the dream in OKC with Simone pursuing national class action litigation and me still working in real estate.” Peter also has added realtor to his list of services. Both Delaney (9) and Alex (7) are attending Casady this year. Peter is also the presidentelect of the Bricktown Rotary Club. He welcomes anyone to join him. Chip and Sarah Mason Sears are also still in OKC. Sarah is running her company S Design and Chip is still in the catering business. Dana and Brian Thomas are in OKC. Their daughters, Whitney (7) and Gracie (4), are both attending Quail Creek Elementary. We see them frequently at school activities. Angela Payne Reynolds reports she is doing well and had a BLAST at the reunion. Her 2 daughters, Elizabeth and Kathryne, are both at Casady. Also in OKC is Will Blaik and wife Sherri. They welcomed a baby girl, Allison Kate Blaik, on July 3. As for Mike and me, our life is pretty much the same. Mike continues to sell commercial insurance. Andrew (10) is in the 5th grade at Quail Creek. He stays busy with school and sports. Mike is currently coaching his football team. William (7) is in the second grade. He is also busy with school and sports. Helen (4) is at Little Red Schoolhouse. She is involved in gymnastics and keeping up with her brothers. On a more somber note, I want to offer condolences on behalf of our class to Hunter Williams, Brooke Manners, Stacia Davis, Will Blaik and Chip Sears who each lost a parent this past year. Our thoughts are with you and your families. Hope to see you all at our 25th reunion!!
brother Mick turned 2 in August. Melissa has her hands full! They are still living in West Hollywood. Katie Blaik James and her husband John also welcomed a little girl Elizabeth Lindsay in September. She is joined by her 2 older brothers, Conner who’s 9 and Jack who is 7. Katie will stay at home to take care of all her munchkins.
Melissa Lawton ’90 and husband Michael Wayne welcomed daughter Eliza Madeline in August. Carolyn Baer is living in Nairobi, Kenya, working with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on rapid response to infectious disease outbreaks. She wrote recently of exciting trips to Madagascar and Egypt. She still loves her life in Kenya and welcomes visitors. Leslie Rooker Russell and her husband Rick are still living in OKC and have 2 darling girls. Kate (5 ½) started kindergarten at Casady this year and Molly just turned 3. They are expecting a baby boy in early October. Leslie has been coaching Kate’s soccer team the past two seasons and is also active in the Junior League and Beaux Arts. Maura Torbett Bradshaw and her husband Jason ’91 are in Dallas. Little Claire has a new friend, Faith, who keeps Maura on her toes.
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Christina Felton 5612 Shoalwood Avenue Austin, TX 78756 (405) 590-3063 cjfelton1@yahoo.com Greetings! As usual, lots to report so I’ll get right to it. Melissa Lawton and her husband Michael Wayne welcomed Eliza Madeline last month. She’s beautiful! Big
Quail Creek Elementary. Her girls, Regon who’s 10 and Addie, who’s 7, are both at Quail Creek under mom’s watchful eye. She and Stephen just celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary. He is the managing director at Hahn Cook Street and Draper Funeral Home. In her free time, she has been singing in a women’s quartet at Westminster. Last summer the Zahn’s went on a family vacation to Kiawah Island, SC. While there, they visited Michelle Rogers Canode who lives there with her husband Rob and son Cole.
Lynn Sullivan Zahn ’90, her husband Stephen and daughters Addie and Regon vacationed on Kiawah Island, SC. Lynn Sullivan Zahn reported that she has gone back to teaching after about a 3-year hiatus. She is teaching 2nd grade at
Lynn visited Michelle Rogers Canode ’90 who lives on Kiawah Island. Debbie Ephraim Trob has had a busy year. She and her husband Josh had twins, Andrew and Megan, last summer who joined 2-year-old Caroline. They finished building their new home and are enjoying lots of room for their kids to play! They are still living in Libertyville, a suburb of Chicago. Courtney Smith is still enjoying living in Sausalito. She is working as a freelance designer and is still sailing. She wrote that she will be racing in the J105 Nationals! Drs. Drew ’95 and Lara Forester Wendelken are still living in Oklahoma City. Lara is a practicing dentist and loves her profession. If you live in OKC, you should be visiting Lara every 12 months for a check up. Joe Strunk and his wife Jill have 3 precious kids – Jaycie who’s 9, Josie who’s 5 and little Jackson who turned 2 this year. Joe stills runs Alexander & Strunk Insurance when he’s not slaving away on the Casady Alumni Association Board. Lainie Buxton Muller and her husband Steve are still in Washington, DC. Johnny (7) and Charlie (5) keep mom busy. Marni Phillips Warren and her husband Mark are still in Denver. Marni is staying at home with her 2 angels, Luke (3) and Mary Nell. Julie Barnes Cruz and her husband John and their 3 precious boys are still living in Kansas City. Julie is teaching 4th grade.
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As for me, I recently moved to Austin and am getting married in April. I am still working for OKC-based PR firm Saxum, and I have opened a Texas office for the company.
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Ben Terrill 1513 N. Berry Rd. St. Louis, MO 63119 (314) 963-9124 bterrill@bizjournals.com
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It’s been another busy year for the members of the Class of 1992. From the joys of starting a family, to the thrills of a new job, to exciting extra-curriculars, let’s dive in. As always, the 1st to write me was Seth Vannatta, from right across the river in Carbondale, Illinois: He has been busy working towards his Ph.D. With course work behind him, Seth is preparing his dissertation outline and presenting papers at conferences around the world. He writes that he should be finished with the degree in 2 years, after which he will look for a teaching job. Also a traditional early writer, Kelly Moon reported from Colorado Springs that she and husband Tim were expecting their 3rd child any day. Professionally, Kelly is still teaching high school art. A number of classmates wrote from OKC this year. Tara Weir’s big news is her impending December wedding to Randy Eisworth. Tara reports that she is slowly turning Randy into an OU football fan, even though he is from Louisiana. She is keeping busy with the Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma and is “loving” it. Tara sees the OKC crowd regularly, including Brooks Altshuler and wife Katie, who recently welcomed baby boy William. She also recently visited with Caroline Cohenour, who was in town from California. Take a look at Caroline’s web site to see her wonderful photography!
Paul Kloberdanz '92 with wife Lisa and son Paul III.
Also in OKC, Paul Kloberdanz and wife Lisa are expecting a “baby brother or sister” for Paul III. (Lisa says their son would prefer a baby horse). Professionally, Paul still has Arapahoe Resources, and he also reports doing a lot of traveling. Justin Naifeh, wife Monique is also pregnant with child No. 3, and Dominique Homsey Gross and husband Craig also recently had a new baby girl, Gabriella. Dominique is still working as a marketing director for KOCO Channel 5. Scott Freeny sent a nice letter. He is still at Crowe & Dunlevy, working on a temporary assignment with CIT Group/ Consumer Finance helping them update regulatory compliance. Scott recently completed Leadership OKC’s LOYAL program for future civic leaders, which he said was “really fun.” Still, he was surprised that he was the oldest in the class. (I guess we are all getting older, whether we like it or not). His wife, Tyler, is doing great in real estate. (I think OKC is the only city that still has a “great” real estate market). Elisabeth Hassebroek Larkin wrote from California that she and husband Jack recently added another baby, a boy, to their family. According to brother Ryan, newborn Hunter is “adorable.” The Larkins have been busy this summer traveling to Tahoe and San Diego. Lots of news from Bridget Mikysa Lauro in Colorado. The biggest event: Bridget gave birth to baby girl Anneliese Victoria in early September. She reports a very easy pregnancy that allowed her the opportunity to engage in her outdoor activities. After maternity leave, she’ll be able to resume her duties as a physician thanks to her parents essentially full-time move out to the slopes, one mile away! More baby news: Kevin Holmes and wife Amy welcomed Hadley Harper Holmes in February. Kevin says he is not ashamed to admit he is wrapped around her (very) little finger. Otherwise, Kevin is still busy developing new technologies in the energy business for Baker Hughes in Houston. Kevin and Bridget were among several classmates catching up in Colorado this summer. Drew Wedemeyer and wife Ellen were there; they welcomed the birth of Joshua Grant in September 2007. Also, Randy Almond, who with his wife Andi, announced that they too are expecting a little one at the end of the year. They are in the Bay area, where Randy has left walmart. com to join a website creation startup called Synthasite (www.synthasite.com) which is a “ton of fun and totally different from WalMart.)
Robert Rivera also wrote from Houston. Like Kevin, he is in the energy business and has had the opportunity to travel to some far-flung places including The Netherlands and Dubai. Robert and wife Branda recently celebrated their 13th anniversary (that has to be a record for our class!) His children, Robert and Cristina, are doing well in school.
Amelia Dudman Atwill ‘92 and her son Pierce with Amelia’s mother Debbie Gambulos Dudman ‘67. Amelia Dudman Atwill wrote “a few lines” from Richmond, where she has recently left the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and was in transition to a new job, the details of which were not available by press time. Son Pierce has turned 4 and is getting ready for school. Amelia also reports that her sister Katie ’95 recently got married to a great California native named Jon Jones. Finally, the award for the longest letter has to go to Adam Marshall from the Lake Tahoe area. First of all, Adam and wife Allyson welcomed a 2nd child this year – Keira Riley, who joined older brother Jackson. Then, Allyson’s employment unfortunately became a victim of the recession - but the crazy part is that Adam was making a presentation to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett about production work for their corporate jet business when he received the call. These “richest men in the U.S.” assured Adam that he and Allyson would be fine. Sure enough, Allyson was employed again quickly (though not by either of them). In addition, the family did some traveling through California in an RV and are now getting ready for another beautiful winter. And, finally, our globetrotter Jean Akers dispatched news from Cambodia. She is about 2/3 of the way through her state department assignment, handling everything involving American citizens who travel to or live in that remote country. She reports that it is emotionally draining but rewarding to work with births, deaths, medical emergencies, passports and arrests. The country has come a long way from
the “bad old days” of war and the Khmer Rouge but she’s still ready to get back to Washington, DC, for her next assignment in the summer of 2009. As for me, nothing too special this year: just work, work and more work. It’s a challenging time to be in the newspaper advertising business, but luckily I’ve got a lot of experience now and a great product to sell. I’m still busy with Mizzou, having just been appointed to the alumni association’s national board and other volunteer activities, while I remain on the hunt for the girl of my dreams. If anybody comes through St. Louis, be sure to look me up!
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Nick Bentley 3844 NW 8th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 405-753-9995 nbentley@tomkt.com It has been almost 15 years of compiling and reporting the events and happenings in our classmates’ lives. So this year, I was trying to come up with a way to make it a little more interesting. I am sure that many of you have taken quizzes in the distant past, but I am sure that it has been a while. It is time to evaluate your test-taking skills and also take the opportunity to evaluate how well you keep track of your classmates. At the end of this quiz, I will offer suggestions to ways that you can improve on your scores in the future. I know this will be difficult, but try not to cheat. On a separate piece of paper, number your page 1-20, after you read the description for each classmate, write the name of the classmate that you think I am writing about. The answers will be at the bottom of the article, but don’t peek! 1. He just started his 2nd year of teaching English in Korea. He was also the middle hitter on the Casady Men’s Volleyball team. 2. She is living in OKC with her husband Barry. They have 3 wonderful little boys. While at Casady, she had trouble finding a Gales skirt that met the necessary length requirements due to her long legs 3. She just gave birth to her 2nd child and is practicing dentistry in the DFW area. She was commonly referred to as “Ro” while attending Casady. 4. He returned to Chapel Hill, NC, after spending most of 2007 living in Australia with his wife and son, Everett. He changed his name to Fred after graduating from Casady. 5. She has lived in Louisiana since leaving Casady and is engaged to be
married in February. She was the best golfer on the women’s golf team at Casady. 6. He married a fellow alum 2 years his junior. They are living in OKC and expecting their 1st child. I took his future wife on a date in Upper School and most likely appalled both her and her parents. 7. He also married a fellow alum. They have two beautiful little girls and he is a banker in OKC. He is currently training for the Chicago Marathon. Coach Grantham often accused him of being soft in the paint and once told him “on the next play, I want to see blood on your jersey. I don’t care whose it is!” 8. She lives in Houston and works as a pharmaceutical rep. She broke up with me in 5th grade for getting her cinnamon gummy bears for her birthday. I bought them from the candy store, Shugums, next door to Johnnies, they cost me $4.37. 9. He worked in the development office at Casady before taking a similar position at Holland Hall this summer. He has a wonderful wife and beautiful daughter named Blythe. He had a full head of hair in 1994. 10. These 2 were both in our class and married after college. They have a son, Jake, and are living back in OKC after several years in Dallas. He works as an attorney and she does the real work as a wife and mother. I knew in Upper School that they were going to get married before they did. 11. He is busy practicing law in OKC and lives with his dog, Bernie. When embarrassed or angry, his face will turn the color of a fire truck. We were often mistaken for each other by Commander Alleman. 12. She lives in Dallas and works for Salomon Smith Barney. She has lived in Dallas since graduating from SMU. Her house in Quail Creek was a safe-haven for unruly teens on the weekends. I hit said house with my Dad’s 1994 Black Suburban. 13. She lives in Flagstaff, AZ, and was married this past May in Sedona, AZ, to Jason Carpenter. They are expecting their first child this spring. A fearless competitor on the field hockey field, she gave her all in all aspects of upper school life. 14. She lives in Houston after completing her fellowship at Columbia. She is now a practicing neurologist. If I had known in upper school that she was going to be rich and smoking hot, I would have asked her out. 15. She recently moved from Boston to Los Angeles via a 6-week, 8,000-mile road trip. She is a landscape designer and her husband, Ben, is starting his own company. When she moved from Hershey,
PA, to OKC she did not pronounce words “drawer” or “orange”. 16. He and his wife Sara just finished up their tour with the Peace Corps last year, and have moved back to Oregon. He spent time this summer in Beijing studying Chinese Criminal Law and is now studying environmental law in Portland. In middle school, we set his side yard on fire with Black Cats. It got out of control and the firemen had to put it out. He also had a huge satellite dish and all of the channels were unscrambled, I mean all of them. 17. He met his wife, Kali, the first day of Med School at OU. They finished their residencies in Birmingham, AL, and moved to Charleston, SC, where he is doing his 2nd fellowship year in Heme/Onc. A standout on the Casady soccer team, he made the ultimate sacrifice and was kicked square in the groin during a game. Aside from the uncomfortable brace he had to wear. He has 1 child, Asher, and is expecting a 2nd son early this fall. 18. He lives in Houston as an IT Project Manager for Stewart Title. When not working, he is earning his MBA and regularly competes in triathlons. In Upper School, he was a 3-sport letterman which is quite an achievement considering that the pinky on his shooting hand protruded at a right angle from the rest of his fingers. 19. He is married and practicing urology here in OKC. He has a wonderful wife and beautiful daughter, Claire. His sister was married this summer to fellow alum, Nelson Bolen ’93. If lucky, you may have seen him behind the piano playing Bobby McFerrin’s No. 1 hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” 20. He lives in OKC and works in the commercial flooring business. He is building a house in east Edmond, and spends most of his time and disposable income on his wife’s horses. In Upper School he may not have passed every test, but he never failed to enjoy himself. I hope that this exercise jogged your memory and took you for a short trip down memory lane. There are several ways to reconnect with your classmates from almost 15 years ago. I have recently signed up on Facebook and found that it is a great way to link up with friends from all over the place, including Casady. Also, update your information with the school so that you can receive updates regarding Alumni events that the School is hosting. Make sure that I have your updated email address, and I will make sure that you receive the Alumni newsletter via email, or you can go to the website to update your info at www.casady.
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org. Once on the site, you can also register for a Casady.org email address for all of your Casady correspondence. I look forward to hearing from all of you soon. Answers (in reverse): 20. Nick Bentley 19. Shea Samara 18. Jon Gilchrist 17. Scott Cole 16. John Sturm 15. Kim Brigati Wang 14. Shonte Byrd 13. Carolyn Hofmann Carpenter 12. Amy Cooke 11. Blake Beeler 10. Russell and Leigh Woody 9. Brad Shelley 8. Brooke Keitz Burns 7. Andy Sullivan 6. Bruce Fraley 5. Betsy Trent Martinez 4. Skip Lybrand 3. Rohini Bajaj 2. Lee Murphy 1. Jim Greathouse Fred Lybrand, and his wife, Wendy, spent most of 2007 living in Sydney, Australia with their son, Everett. Everett is now 2. Since then they returned home to Chapel Hill, NC, where Fred continues to work in and around private equity. He and his business partner recently opened the US office of a technology start-up which is headquartered in Central Europe. Fred regularly sees Peter Almond, Bruce Fraley and Russ Woody – in August they completed their 9th annual baseball trip; this time to see the Seattle Mariners lose 5-10 at home to the Orioles. The four of them created a scholarship fund, the Black Mesa Foundation, led by Russ, to promote and encourage entrepreneurship in Oklahoma. Fred is involved in the UVA alumni association as a founding member of the T100 and was asked in 2007 to serve on the National Academies’ Committee on Forecasting Future Disruptive Technologies – an appointment he will hold through 2010. Bruce also writes that Betsy Trent Martinez is engaged and getting married in February. Yeah, Betsy! Her fiance, Jim, is a great guy and everyone is very excited for them. Bruce and Cara Musser Fraley ’96 are expecting their 1st child. Peter Almond and his wife Amber continue to enjoy Manhattan and all of its charms. Pete’s enjoying his 10th year working in leveraged finance for Banc of America Securities.
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Cara Musser Fraley 1125 Hemstead Place Oklahoma City, OK 73116 (405) 420-9424 caramuss@yahoo.com Let’s start with a shout out to all of the class notes writers who completed the task before the days of e-mail. I really don’t know how they did it! Without e-mail, how could Nick Saadah be the first to write in from Lebanon?! He left Houston this year to
attend medical school at the American University of Beirut (his father and all 4 grandparents graduated from this medical school). Nick said it feels nice to follow in the family footsteps, his Arabic is improving, and the country is too beautiful for words. Laura Freeman-Yilmazcetin still loves the adventure of life in Istanbul, Turkey. Her husband, Tolga, still flies the Airbus 310 internationally for Turkish Airlines. One of her favorite excursions this summer was a 1,000-mile road trip through Turkey, where they visited many ancient ruins (including Troy) and bought lots of organic produce, olive oil and cheeses. They also took ferries to 2 beautiful Greek islands, Samos and Levsos. Also overseas, Jennifer MartensSpaeth is happily married and living in the Netherlands. She works for Progress Software in Rotterdam (near Amsterdam). She and her husband bought a house in 2008, but it won’t be finished until next year. Our first classmate update ever from Australia came from Angelique Paulk. After graduating from the University of Arizona in August with her Ph.D. in Insect Science, she moved to Brisbane for a research job at the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland. Her work focuses on flies and bees and the neural mechanisms of attention. I just know any day now we’ll see Angelique on the Discovery Channel! Allison Denmark Shaw and her husband, Michael, live in Sacramento, CA. She works part-time as a freelance writer/ editor, primarily doing technical writing (rewriting legal and engineering documents in plain English) for state agencies. She is also the editor and a feature writer for Access Magazine, published by Sacramento State University, and in the fall she began teaching music to 2 and 3-year-olds through a program called “Music for Young Children” (www.myc.com). Allison and Michael celebrated their 9th wedding anniversary in June in Washington DC. Their lives are full of activities with their 2-year-old son, Liam, and things are about to get even busier with the birth of their second child around Thanksgiving! Emil Gilliam worked on LeapFrog’s new Didj handheld learning system in Emeryville, CA and then took the summer off to travel and read. He spent a week at Jazz Camp West in La Honda, CA, to try his hands at jazz piano – something he never studied before (hard to believe!). He met famous drummer Tootie Heath, met many new friends, and performed his original composition, “Slither” (search “Jazz
Camp Slither” on YouTube). He also spent over a month in Europe, where he attended the Global Catastrophic Risks conference at Oxford and went to London, Cambridge, Paris, Brussels, Brugge, Amsterdam, Berlin and Copenhagen. He had a great time despite his plane getting hit by lightning on the way back to the US! Michael Nevard and his wife, Jill, still call San Francisco home. Michael works for Shorenstein Properties developing office buildings around the U.S., and enjoys Jill’s culinary creations as she has entered the catering/private-chef world. He also visited his sister, Lisa ’93, and Lauren Price in Chicago and Eli Hellman in Washington, DC in 2008. Lauren still loves Chicago and her job at Intersport, a sports marketing firm. Work took her to some fun places this year such as Miami, Minneapolis, LA, San Francisco, Sacramento and Madison, home of her beloved Badgers. Eli is a trademark attorney at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in DC. He spent 3 weeks in Australia with family this summer and spent most other summer weekends hanging out with Lisa Bozalis in East Hampton, NY. Lisa is an attorney at Shamoun Klatsky Norman, LLP, in New York City. She is still happy living in the big city but loves to travel as well. Last winter she went to Switzerland and Austria to ski with some friends. Jon Hill and his wife, Megan, who live in OKC, finished up an extensive house remodel – at least the inside – just in time to welcome a baby girl, Emory Grace, in October 2007! Ownership of a dental practice in northwest OKC and preparing for the baby kept them very busy this year, leaving Jon a few minutes of free time to work on his golf game. DJ Morgan and his wife, Sarah, also live in OKC, where DJ works for MidFirst Bank and Sarah works part-time in admissions and special project areas at Westminster School. Son Jack is now 4 and daughter Ellie is 1. Michael Woody had another exciting year in South Florida (Deerfield Beach – just north of Fort Lauderdale) after proposing to his girlfriend of about 3 years, Esme, in January. They are scheduled to marry in April 2009 at Ocean Reef in Key Largo. Even with all the wedding planning, Michael finds time to work as a middle market lender at Commerce Bank, which will be changing its name to TD Bank by year’s end. Esme, originally from NYC, is an Institutional Trader for Northern Trust in West Palm Beach. Michael reported that “Rob Trotter is still in Nashville, TN. He seems to be doing very well and was recently
promoted to the finance side of the business, which I think is where he has always wanted to be.” Jenifer Bailey Stehr still lives in Edmond, OK and works in sales for a medical supply company. She is also a very active leader in the Junior league of OKC. Her husband, Chris, won major points by surprising her with a 30th birthday trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where 15 of her close college friends were ready and waiting to join the party. They all stayed in a huge house on the ocean and it just so happened that the infamous Brad and Angelina stayed there the previous week. Sounds like a memorable birthday! Eric Stewart and his wife, Jane, joyfully welcomed a son, Benjamin Goodwin, in January. Eric said the first few months of parenthood were a challenge but everyone is happy and healthy and Benjamin is now providing plenty of entertainment terrorizing everything at floor level and chasing the dog around the living room. The Stewarts still love living in Austin, TX. Elaine Chow is still in Boston, working in nonprofit and loving it. She manages several community programs, her favorite being a hip hop and arts program for court-involved youth. In her words, “There’s been a lot of youth violence this summer, and to be able to do something positive in the middle of all that is really something.” Elaine was excited that her brother, Jesse ’98, moved to Boston after 7 years in Los Angeles to start business school at MIT Sloan, her alma mater. Sister Christie ’00 is also nearby in NYC. Cara Gore Lowe still lives in Norman, OK, and practices law. She made a change this year to focus solely on workers compensation defense, representing employers and their insurance carriers. Her husband, Kevin, is the design manager for Farmers Insurance. He designs and maintains websites, creates promotional videos and plans corporate events, among other things. Cara’s stepson, Jonathan, started 4th grade at James L. Dennis Elementary in Putnam City, so it is a very busy time for the Lowes! Megan Holmes Sutton and her husband, Clark, welcomed a precious baby girl, Morgan Rose, in May and they’ve been wrapped around her tiny finger since day one. Morgan was born with enough hair to hold little bows and is very girly! Megan returned to work as a dental hygienist on a part-time basis after Morgan’s birth and Clark is still working in the oil and gas industry. They still have a few projects in the works for their Edmond home but I imagine
their free time must be pretty limited these days. Mark and Marian Pratt Clopton are hard at work as well. Mark has been with Morgan Stanley in OKC for over 5 years now and is preparing to become president of his Edgemere Park neighborhood association for 2009-10. After 2 ½ years of Physician’s Assistant school at the OU Health Sciences Center, Marian will graduate in December and officially begin treating patients in early 2009. They plan to take a celebratory vacation in December. Mark reported that Matt Hahn still lives in OKC and is considering an education in computer programming. Lucy London Williams and her husband, Jeremy, still live in OKC with daughters Alli (5) and Madison (3). They now have a blue and gold family as both girls go to school at Heritage Hall and Lucy started teaching middle school French and Spanish there in the fall. It’s hard to believe Lucy is now a Charger! Regan Duckworth Morgan spent another year thoroughly enjoying life in Richmond, VA with her husband, James, and their 1 ½ year-old son, Tate. The cute little guy is walking around and into everything now, and according to Regan, “He’s definitely a handful.” Regan still works part-time for Virginia Emergency Physicians LLP in several local emergency departments as a family nurse practitioner. James works for Capital One and is on his way to completing a Duke MBA. Blythe Wilson e-mailed from Purcell, OK, to report that his family of 7 is busier than ever. He and his wife, Casey, now have 5 children! To sum up Blythe’s descriptions: Alecs (10) is a super student, ballerina, and role model to the other kids; Oliver (6) is sweet, rambunctious, athletic, and happiest playing outside on the farm; Stella (4) is a spirited, inquisitive “ball of fire” who should be president of her preschool; Arlie Pearl (almost 2) is walking and talking in a hurry to prove that she can keep up with the older kids; and Zeke (born July 22, 2008) is growing quickly and surely enjoying all the attention of being the baby. Blythe and Casey’s other “baby” is their restaurant, Althea’s Vault Café and Bakery, which they opened in November ’07. Between restaurant duties, church and all of the family activities this is one busy, adventurous and blessed crew! Elizabeth Anthony still works from home in OKC running her website, Reel Classics, consulting on classic movie projects and speaking/introducing films at various venues across the city. Unfortunately, her
gig at the 2008 Oscars (assisting previous Oscar winners in honor of the 80th Annual Academy Awards, as she did at the 75th in ’03) was cancelled due to the Writer’s Guild strike. On a brighter note, a book that she helped research called Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master (about the director of many classic movies including Gone with the Wind) hit bookstands December 9th. She also ran the 2008 Mid-America Regulatory Conference (MARC, a forum for discussion of regulatory and policy issues) for her dad (its 2008 president), which “ended up being as much work as a political campaign, only without the parades and yard signs.” Elizabeth also completed her 6th season as a field hockey referee in Oklahoma and beyond. She welcomes anyone interested in becoming a referee to contact her or Casady Athletic Director Jim Bonfiglio. Stephanie Morgan seems happy as a lark living in the heart of San Francisco with her boyfriend, Dave. In 2008 she took a promotion at UCSF in the Division of Rheumatology. In addition to working in medical research, in the fall she began an intensive training program to become a Certified Yoga Instructor in a combination of the Ashtanga, Vinyassa, and Iyengar styles through YogaWorks. She loves seeing her sister, Michelle ’02, on a regular basis and also reported running into Michael Nevard in her Laurel Heights neighborhood. In September, Stephanie served as Maid of Honor in Noelle Edwards’ wedding in San Diego at the Museum of Natural History. Noelle and her husband, Keith, moved to OKC in 2007 after she completed her Masters in Public Health at San Diego State University. Keith is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at OU. Veronica Hill Gompers and her husband, Dana, moved into their newly remodeled Houston home over the summer – just in time to work on a nursery! They are expecting their 1st baby in March 2009. Veronica also made a professional change this year, leaving the energy trading world to pursue a real estate career with Heritage Texas Properties. So far she loves working with people and their homes and hopes it will only get better. Speaking of pregnancy, Chad Homsey and his wife, Julie, are excitedly awaiting their 1st baby’s arrival in December. Brewster Baker (their dog) is going to have a baby brother! They also enjoyed their second year in Overland Park, KS. Chad is a Sales Representative for Acushnet Company (which makes golf products such
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as Titleist, Cobra and Foot-Joy) in Greater Kansas City and Western Missouri. Baby news continues! Carolyn Lisle Talley and her husband, Jon, are expecting their 1st child in March! The Denver, CO, couple is eager for the new addition, as are their dogs I’m sure. Carolyn loves the flexibility of her job as a Pet Supply Sales Rep covering parts of Colorado such as Vail, Fort Collins and Pueblo. They enjoy living near Jon’s brother and parents, and Carolyn reported with glee that her sister, Lizzie ’99, and her husband are looking for a house in Denver as well. She hopes her brother, Ben ’93, will consider a teaching position in Boulder when he finishes his Ph.D. in Austin. Carolyn said former ’96er Caroline Kiker Guarraia’s son, Davis, turned 1 in September and he is a total replica of Caroline in boy form. Carolyn also keeps in touch with Bindu Krishna Walia and gets to hear fun new words from Bindu’s 1½ year-old daughter, Leela, over the phone. Bindu and her husband, Atul, still live in Edmond, OK, where Bindu is a full-time mom. Atul is temporarily living in Lubbock, Texas while completing a medical fellowship in pain management, so Bindu and Leela spend lots of quality time on the road going to visit daddy. Bindu said Nichelle Adams is a gold star student in her 2nd year of CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) school in Arizona. Also in Arizona, Bobby Mirzaie and his wife, Jane, recently bought a new house in Scottsdale. Bobby teaches history at Phoenix Country Day School and will complete his masters degree in education at Arizona State by December ’08. Meredith Simmons Smith loves being a stay-at-home mom to her 1 ½ year-old daughter, Madeline. They are having lots of fun at Gymboree music and art classes in OKC, and Madeline took swimming lessons at the YMCA with Blythe Shelley, daughter of Brad ’94. Meredith and her husband, Drew, still enjoy owning their own business, The Dip Stick, a quick lube in Bethany. A highlight of the Smith family’s year was a trip to San Diego, including excursions to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and Disneyland. The only thing that could possibly top that trip was Meredith’s October jaunt to Atlanta with our former classmate Camille Ridinger to see NKOTB (that’s right, folks – the New Kids are back with a vengeance). I hope the show was even better than the New Kids concert they attended together in 1990! Chris Stakem is still working too hard as a senior manager at KPMG in Dallas, TX. In his free time, he loves seeing his
niece, Charlotte (almost 2), and nephew, Gray (4 months), in Memphis as much possible. Chris still coaches volleyball with Craig Banowetz ’99 and sees Brad Davis ’97 and Tiffany Hill Davis ’98, Anne Rundell ’97 and Erin Hoenig ’97 locally as well. Ever the jet-setter, Chris visited Lauren Price in Chicago in August and took a trip to Napa with Michael Woody, Michael’s fiancée, and Catherine Woody in September. Janet Stephens is still plugging away at her Ph.D. in art history. This year she did her research in Peru and actually gave herself time to relax and enjoy the sights. She expects to return to the U.S. permanently sometime next spring/summer and finish up her degree in 2010. Luke Mitchell and his wife, Lauren (a fellow UVA grad), had a beautiful March wedding in Nashville, TN. Afterward they honeymooned in Paris and returned home to New York City. Lauren is in her 2nd year of corporate litigation at King & Spalding, and Luke is now a vice president and partner at Edgemont Capital Partners, the investment banking firm he’s been with for over 5 years. They plan on staying in NYC for quite a while, although Luke is on the road quite a bit for work. Fortunately, during these trips, he’s been able to visit many of our classmates, from Chad Homsey in Kansas to Jody Jones in Salt Lake City, UT. Luke loved the mountain views from Jody’s awesome backyard. Jody was too modest to mention her yard or the beautiful view herself, but she did tell me she grows to love Utah more every year. She and her significant other, Danielle, love spending time outdoors with their husky, Kasiah, in addition to biking, skiing and snowboarding. Jody also stays busy running her own franchise of Money Mailer, a direct mail advertising business, and is now getting active in the Salt Lake City real estate market. Michael Smith and his wife, Hayden Glenn ’95, bought a new house in OKC this summer and love it. He still works with his dad and brother Brian ’97 at the family company, Smith Cogeneration, developing energy products in Oklahoma, Maine and China. Sydney Tarzwell completed a clerkship with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in August and reluctantly moved out of scenic Montana. Stopping at the Corn Palace and Spam Museum, she made her way to her new life in NYC to work as a Skadden Fellow with the Urban Justice Center, where she works for the Peter Cicchino Youth Project. This organization
provides legal services for LGBT homeless youth. Syd confirmed that Dorothy Faris is still a landscape architect living in Seattle with her husband, Ryan Casperson. Iva Savic moved to New York City this year as well. She now attends Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she will earn a masters in international affairs with a focus on security. Rachel Samara Bolen and hubby, Nelson ’93, live in OKC and had an amazing wedding here in July. They spent a wonderful honeymoon in San Francisco, Napa Valley and Santa Barbara. Rachel is now in her 4th year working as a title attorney at Chesapeake Energy. The happy pair loves seeing family and friends and just being married! Petra Maton Molitor is still teaching graphic design, animation, cartooning and ceramics at Evanston Township High School in Chicago. She and Mark are still enjoying life in the city with their new cat, Toulouse. Petra also visited family in London for 2 weeks in June, and she and Mark spent a long weekend in NYC in August. I miss those direct flights from Chicago! Alison Harris Busick and her husband, Tommy, moved from Temple to Fort Worth, TX, this year and absolutely love their new home. They live near many museums and the zoo – great destinations for their 2-year-old daughter, Avery. Tommy’s dermatology practice opened in the summer and is going really well so far. Alison reported that Vikram Malpani and his wife are living in Houston, where he works for a large consulting firm and doing great. They recently celebrated their 1st anniversary with an incredible trip to Italy. Whitney Browne Hooten and her husband, David, are raising their 2 children, Henry (5) and Ava (3), in OKC. Whitney spends lots of time in the carpool line at Westminster School. She is a full-time mom and David is director of CARE (Child Abuse Response and Evaluation) Center. They took a family vacation to Disney World in May but, as is often the case, the kids enjoyed the hotel pool & hot tub at the hotel more than Disney! Bart Jay Robey announced that he and his wife, Shawnae, are expecting their 1st child on Valentine’s Day! Bart seems ready for the non-stop grind of parenthood as his legal work is hectic and his campaign for a seat in the OK House of Representatives is, as he put it, an uphill battle since he’s running as a Democrat against a Republican incumbent in a Republican district. Luckily he likes a good
challenge. He took his first case to trial this June and got a great result from the jury. Bart also said Ray Pang is still in OKC, working with his father managing rental properties and a gas station/convenience store business. Erik Mikysa settled in Fort Collins, CO, this year. He loves his new city and its mountain views, festivals, concerts, etc. Erik now works for AVA Solar, which is developing a new solar panel. He originally ran the fundraising effort and is now a key account director in the strategy group, working on various projects and questions as they work to launch their plants and products. Erik says technology like AVA’s could play an important role in our transition to clean energy and have positive geopolitical, environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Sounds exciting! Erik was also thrilled to become an uncle this year. His sister, Bridget Lauro ’92, had a baby girl in September. Michael Heaton still lives in Norman, OK and works in OKC as vice president at Leonard Securities, Inc. He stayed busy in his personal time with a summer trip to NYC to visit friends and he served on the programming committee for OKC’s deadCENTER film festival that took place downtown in June. Lauren Rousseau Schwartz and her husband, Steven, are designing and preparing to build a new house at Lake Hiwassee in Arcadia, OK. Their adorable son, Luke, is entering the very active toddler stage. Lauren is in her 4th year of med school at OU and wrote me in the midst of frantically studying for board exams and applying for residencies. On top of all this, they are expecting baby No. 2 in April! Lauren also said Beau Hawkins was chief resident when she did her internal medicine rotation and rated him a phenomenal teacher. Beau started a cardiology fellowship at OU this past July and his wife, Nonie, is still working as an attorney at the Public Defenders’ office downtown. They became parents to a son, Alexander, in June! In Beau’s words, their baby is “beautiful, healthy, and already sleeping 10 hours consecutively at night!” The Hawkins still live 2 doors down from the Cloptons in Edgemere Park. Jacob Dearmon and his wife, Charissa, still live in Norman, OK. Jacob graduated from OU in 2008 with a Ph.D. in economics. He has a tenure track position at OCU, which keeps them happily here in Oklahoma near family and friends. Charissa is teaching part-time and coaching pom at
Norman North, and they plan to move to OKC in the near future. Akilah Burleigh still lives in OKC and works at the Federal Aviation Administration as a computer programmer. Her dance school presented at Oklahoma’s 3rd annual Black Arts Festival in September (www.blackartsfestivalokc.com) and she also spends time traveling and spending time with friends and family. Colleen Hatfield is still living in OKC, working for Crawley Petroleum as a systems security specialist and enjoying her 2 shih tzus and a new puppy, a rescued schnauzer. Jennifer Johnson Levy is a busy fulltime mom to daughters Emily (2) and Lucy (1). Her husband, Marlon, is a transplant surgeon at Baylor. They took some great family trips in 2008. First, they rang in the New Year in Taos, NM, with mountain fireworks. In March, they went to France to introduce Lucy to Marlon’s grandparents, who live in Paris. They also spent 2 summer weeks in Cape Cod and loved the beach so much they plan to return next year. Jennifer also had a surprise 30th birthday party and says her year is off to a great start so far. Congratulations to Amanda Shockey Porter and her husband, Brian! They welcomed a son, Mason Wade, in early September. Amanda is still working as a curriculum specialist with the Oklahoma Assistive Technology Center at the OU Health Sciences Center, advising Oklahoma schools on technology for kids with special needs. Brian works as a sales representative for Coca-Cola. Bruce ’94 and I enjoyed our 2nd year of living back home in OKC. I’m an accountant at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation and Bruce works for Stampede Investments. Having family nearby is a true gift and will be extremely helpful when our 1st baby arrives in March ’09! Yep, we’ve joined the club of excited/ nervous first-time-parents-to-be. In our free time, we’re busily trying to complete some looming house projects and sneak in a few weekend trips before my due date. I had the pleasure of seeing many of you at my house last December for a holiday party/minireunion. We had a great turnout and I’m looking forward to our next class gathering! Thank you all for keeping in touch and best wishes for 2009!
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Naureen Ahmad Hubbard 16316 Old Elm Ln. Edmond, OK 73013 naureenhubbard@gmail.com The following story is inspired by true events that began to occur in the summer of 1998. Though some of the details may seem outrageous and unbelievable, they are all true and are all based on true accounts. This is the story of the Class of 1998… (Twilight Zone theme song playing in the background). On June 13, 2008, the Class of 1998 was about to reunite after 10 long years. And where did I plan for this important first meeting to take place? Well at Remington Park, of course. It was an excellent time to plan such an event at the racetrack, especially since there were no live races going on at that time. Way to go Naura. But, at least I created a banner with my very own hands that said “Casaday Class of 1998 Ten Year Reunion”. Yes, “Casaday”. The Class of ‘98 also enjoyed many other festivities on a warm June night at the beautiful Swisher Farms. Everyone noshed on Mexican food and sipped on beverages while catching up on the past and present. And of course the night was topped off with a competitive game of Flip Cup. Cara Duckworth won MVP. Now, as many of you know, Omar Baber graduated with top honors from upper school, college and grad school. He was every parent’s dream. He was at the reunion, and we all enjoyed seeing him again. Patrick Quillian was at the reunion and had a very good time. Oh, and PQ no longer works for the district attorney. He is now a civil attorney with the Pringle & Pringle Law Firm. He and his wife, Jennifer, love watching old Kurt Russell movies and hanging out with their dogs Wormser and Harold. Charlotte Biddinger Brown and her husband Michael had a beautiful baby girl named Susannah Jane. No, no, not at the reunion, but some days later on June 21, 2008. I am happy to announce that Charlotte is busy being a new mom and therefore is no longer a traitor as she has taken time off from teaching those Heritage Hall heathens. Billy Bozalis and Joshua Sepkowitz vacationed in Europe together this year. Josh recently graduated with an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He is still living in Dallas and is working for E2M
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Partners, a private equity firm that John Solomon’s uncle runs. Speaking of Sepkowitz, I talked to James Davis on his cell phone during the reunion weekend. Jealous? If not, you should be. Jesse Chow was living in Los Angeles and being famous but now I think he might be moving to attend graduate school. I got this information from Facebook. How resourceful am I? Lauren Keller and Will Corbyn ’97 are set to get married on November 8th, 2008 in OKC!!! They will be throwing their wedding reception at Cousins. Lauren is busy with wedding planning, running her business, Echo Design, and acting as support staff to help plan an event for Positive Tomorrows with Hannah Dunning Sharp. Hannah and Alex Sharp are both doing really well and settling back into OKC life after living in Portland, ME, while Hannah was getting her masters degree. Hannah is also busy starring in a “How to Properly Play the Air Guitar” video. Of course Ann Gauntt also stars in this instructional video, while Alex acts as the cinematographer and the producer. And you guessed it, Ann Gauntt still loves bacon. I had the pleasure of seeing Tiffany Hill Davis and Brad Davis ’97 twice this summer. Once at Anne Rundell Hufham’s ’97 beautiful wedding and then at our 10-year reunion. I believe it is safe to say we all had way too much fun at both events. Malek Massad is now in his 3rd year of commercial real estate development and still enjoying it. He is still living in the same house. He broke up with his girlfriend this summer so he is back on the market. Therefore, you can reach him at a new number: 471-0827. I finally met Lee Elkouri’s adorable boyfriend, Mikey, at the reunion. They are both happy and living in Chicago. Lee is now taking some time off after bowling for Team USA in the Olympics this summer. She states that she owes all of her bowling success to Casady intramurals. Kristin Morgan Fares and her husband, Erik, welcomed their 3rd child, Charlotte this year. Kristin and Erik also sent their 1st child, Madeline, off to her 1st day of school on August 20. Lizzie Reynolds Daniel and her husband, Josiah, have some fabulous news to share but being the nice paparazzo that I am, I’m going to let them tell you when you
see them. However, I can tell you they are livin’ it up in OKC. I see Kathryn Swisher on a regular basis and of course still talk to her at least once a day. She won the lottery. But I promise, that’s not why I’m still bff with her. Promise. How can I prove it? If we went to a Halloween party dressed as Batman and Robin, I’d go as Robin. That’s how much Kathryn means to me. Elizabeth Meade, our other half, is also still here in OKC. At the moment, she is training for a huge race. Huge. Old Man Lance Armstrong better watch out. On August 21 Tim Stakem and his wife, Kate, welcomed a second addition to the family - a baby boy whom they named Gray. Hello, cool name. I’m sure big sister Charlotte is thrilled to have a baby brother! Patrick Walsh changed jobs at the beginning of August – his team at SunTrust left en masse to open a Nashville office for Shattuck Hammond Partners, a healthcare investment banking boutique. He states that he is still doing the exact same thing, just giving out a different business card, “so it’s even more boring than it sounds”. Oh Patrick, you don’t have to be so modest. His wife, Emily, is still litigating and their dog is really beginning to think the Cubs have a chance to go all the way this year. Guess who got engaged this year? Liz Wellington! She and Matt Davies plan on having a small and intimate ceremony sometime next summer. She is awesome and he is awesome, which makes me happy. Carter Samis also got engaged this year! She is living in Charleston, SC. with her totally southern fiancé, Fred Harris Fellers III and their Labradoodle, Scout, who is hilarious and their little man. After almost 6 years together, Fred and Carter are getting married in Charleston on November 1. Hannah Dunning Sharp and Clay Smith are both in the wedding party. Clay Smith has been living in Vermont this summer pursuing his masters as well and will be back in Austin teaching in the fall. Elizabeth Word and her boyfriend just moved a couple of weeks ago. She is still saving the environment. So needless to say, she has been super busy with work and school. I recently saw Michael Wolfe and Michael Lovelace at Groovys. They were both finalists in a serious dance-off. Wolfe won 1st place with his dance routine to Thriller, while Lovelace won 2nd place with his dance routine to Grease. It was a proud moment.
It was too much fun to see everyone at our class reunion. Thanks to Kathryn Swisher and her family, Keli Wallace, Lauren Keller, Dustin Knutson, Brian Stubbs, Lizzie Reynolds Daniel, Charlotte Biddinger Brown and Mona Dahr. We were able to throw a 10-year reunion to remember. About 1 month after the reunion, Jeff and I traveled to Kashmir and New Delhi with my parents. It was my country bumpkin husband’s 1st time overseas so believe me, it was one hilarious experience. He got more kissies and take-your-breathaway-hugs, than he had in his whole lifetime, from all of the Kashmirian relatives. He also had to endure my grandfather’s attempts to force feed him to eat meat at breakfast, lunch AND dinner. And when Jeff kindly refused to eat meat maybe once the whole time we were in Kashmir, my grandfather called him a vegetarian. Um yea, pretty sure “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was inspired by my family. SCENE AND HEARD Nick Bishop was at the reunion. His whereabouts are unknown at this time. John Bohan lives somewhere in America. I think. Bill Bradford and Puffer Jones were extras in “Superbad”. Carl Bricker works at Remington Park. Keith Cockrum can swim. Sarah Cole Cody is still pretty and sweet and her husband, Dan Cody, is still a professional football player, still really really really big and still handsome. Kim Counts Anderson and her husband Evan live in OKC and he just cooked her Indian food. Alan Crane was at the reunion. It was great to see him. I saw Cotton Dunlevy at Sipangos once. Stevie Gardosik still better own that green Porsche. And he better let me drive it sometime soon. Anna Homsey is busy being a doctor and saving lives. Clark Hyde was missed by everyone at the reunion. Shelton Irby, where are you? That goes for you too Andrew Harley. Lisa Jenkins owns a dolphin safehouse. Alicia Johnson should take over Mariah Carey’s career because Alicia is awesome. Dustin Knutson hooked our class up with a bank account at Arvest. Thank you Dustin! Bryan Kopta and John Lennon are my friends on MySpace. So is Michele Martin Abbitt. I saw Drew Mildren and his wife, Caroline, at Northpark Mall about 8 months or so ago. My dad knows Ryan Mowdy’s dad. Jessica Munter Orso wrote the best play ever for Mr. Johnson’s 9th grade (or was it 10th grade?) English class. I saw Emily Oehlert at the reunion and she’s doing great. Pete Petromilli doesn’t
have time to play baseball anymore. Jacob Reeves is a lawyer. Justin Rousseau and Jessica Schnebel Rousseau are both still beautiful and are both still in love. Nicole Routman lives in Hawaii. Emily Seikel lives in Austin. Ahmed Shakir is busy being a neurosurgeon and also a father to the sextuplets he had with his supermodel wife last year. Brian Stubbs should own a restaurant. Jeb Swan is married. Nathan Tucker and his lovely wife, Amber, are living the dream. Mike Turner never did The Pretzel at the reunion. Jay Vyas is a doctor. I dare you to be his patient. Okay, I double dog dare you. I remember when Catherine Woody was our field hockey goalie. Those were the days.
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Lindsay Hightower 865 W. Lill Ave., No. 2 Chicago, IL 60614 (773) 307-7848 lindhigh@hotmail.com Another year and another class correspondent… Actually I am excited to be taking over and was pleased to hear from so many classmates that I haven’t spoken with in some time. It’s great to hear that we have people spread out all over the place and involved in so many different things. To get started though I’ll tell you a little about myself. I am living in Chicago where I work for Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate. When I’m not selling homes I work part-time at a boutique, and I participate in the Junior League of Chicago. Right now I am working on the holiday market that raises funds to support the league. I also spend a good amount of time running. I will be running my 3rd marathon this October here in Chicago. The majority of my travels throughout the last year have been for weddings, some of which were for my very own classmates. I am fortunate enough to see several other alums from time to time including Jacob Robertson ’01, Juliana Samara ’03, Rachel Brown ’03, Molly ’03 and Margot Adler ’00, Andrew Cook, Rachel Cody ’02, Marion Garrett, and of course Megan Parker. Megan lives just about a block from me so we spend lots of time together. Megan works for the Bank of America as a performance analyst and is also a member of the Junior League of Chicago. Megan had an eventful summer traveling around the country. We both got to spend some time in Harbor Springs, MI, but Megan’s travels extended out west as she got to play
golf and soak up some rays in Hawaii and then visit friends in Los Angeles. Now moving on to my other Chicago friend, Marion Garrett. I don’t get to see Marion quite as much since she lives in Lake Forest, IL and is working hard to finish her 4th-year of podiatry school and apply for residency. She has really enjoyed the past year of school, which has required less time in class and more time in clinical rotations. Her most recent rotation in orthopedics has brought in a lot of patients with broken ankles and gun shot wounds which I’m sure has been exciting. Marion’s travels took her to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT, this past January. She went with fellow alums Kylie Beal, Becky Tanenbaum, Eileen Price Everett ’99, and sister Lizanne Garrett ’99. They spent the weekend skiing, attending the premier of U2 in 3D, and, of course, stargazing. Several celebs they got to see include Dave Matthews, Paris Hilton, Ian Ziering, Quentin Tarantino and Adrien Grenier who apparently they watched walk face-first into a pole! Another classmate with some big news to report is Emily Huffman. Emily was married to her Australian beau, Paul Kelley, in the summer of ’07 and they now reside in Hingham, MA, just outside of Boston where they bought a cute house that they have been spending some time fixing up. Emily and Paul welcomed their 1st child, Madeleine, March 11, 2008. After a summer spent in Martha’s Vineyard with her family, Emily is now preparing to go back to work part-time as a therapist. Krysten Sullivan also has a new marriage to announce. She and now husband Jason Tidwell got engaged on a plane to the Bahamas in May, married in Lake Tahoe, CA, on September 1st and will celebrate their honeymoon in Kauai in October. Krysten met Jason at the corporate office of Overhead Door Corporation in Dallas, TX where she is working in human resources. Krysten looks forward to house hunting later this fall in Frisco, TX. Jon Fowler was married to Natalie Brown ’02 in the Casady School Chapel on April 12. They live in Norman where Jon was a chair member of the first Norman Music Festival on April 26 and is now the head chairman for the 2009 Norman Music Festival this coming April. Jon just started a year-long program with NADA (National Automobile Dealer Association Academy) in Washington, DC. He reports that he was a groomsman in Kevin Corbyn’s wedding last May. Kevin married Susan Ratcliff in Alexandria, LA where they now reside. I got
to see Jon and Natalie at this wedding along with several other classmates: Michael Meade is back on U.S. soil and beginning law school at OU this fall; Nicole Naifeh is working for a news channel in OKC where she gets to write scripts for the night-time show; Tyler Morey works for an oil and gas company in OKC as a land man; Julia Smith and Kent Regens, among others. Julia Smith is living in OKC where she is working as a pediatric nurse practitioner for Children’s Hospital. Julia is involved in a research study on pediatric diabetes type II in which I’m sure she is making huge discoveries! Julia gets to spend time with lots of other alums living in OKC such as Nicole, Ross Miller ’01, Liz Samara, Jon and Natalie Fowler, and Tyler. Kent Regens is living in OKC as well. He returned from London not long ago where he was working as an Analyst for HSBC. He is now working at Chesapeake Energy Corp. Kent and Katherine Samis ’02 were engaged in March and will celebrate their wedding this spring in Mexico. Another OKC resident is Christopher Ford who reports that he is working the long-range radar at the aeronautical center. Although not a sports enthusiast, Chris is excited about recent developments in the city with the new NBA team as well as the Devon skyscraper. I’m sure it’s an exciting time to be in Oklahoma! On the flip side, Ross Park is a sports enthusiast. He is living in New York City where he works for Davie Brown Talent, which is a Sports/Entertainment Marketing Agency. Ross manages their Gillette client, which recently signed Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, and Thierry Henry to be global endorsers for the Gillette brand. Look out Ross because Chris Farha reports that he will be moving to New York in October. He just finished another contract with Royal Caribbean as their lead singer in shows. Once in New York Chris will be auditioning for Jersey Boys on Broadway and anything that is musical theatre related. Also in New York is Christie Chow. Christie just returned from England where she has spent her summers directing a summer program for about 300 high school students. Although she doesn’t know what’s in store for the future she hopes to remain in New York for a while. Jennifer Farha Kalil and husband of 2 ½ years Sammy are still living in Fort Worth. Jennifer is the vice president of their company Entrees On-Trays which is a 3rd party restaurant delivery service.
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They travel quite a bit to see the family in OKC and to follow her traveling brother at sea. Though she reports kids are not in their immediate future, they are happy spoiling their dog, Heisman, and they have a spare bedroom for anyone that wants to visit. Careful what you wish for Jennifer! Okay, back to our home base of OKC. Lauren Karim is happy to report that she is done with law school. She graduated from OU last May and has moved back to the city after 8 years in Norman. Lauren is working as a medical malpractice defense attorney for Rife and Walters. She will be defending doctors who are being sued. Another recent law school graduate is Mary Alexander. Mary graduated from Case Western in Cleveland and took the bar exam in July. She will now start working as a clerk for a federal judge, which will last the next 2 years. Liz Samara recently paid me a visit in Chicago. She was taking a brief break after having graduated with her masters in counseling psychology from UCO. She is now working as a therapist at Northcare’s Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic. Liz has the cutest little house in Nichols Hills and she runs around with the same crowd as Julia, Nicole and all those crazy kids. Madelaine Andrezik used to run with this crowd until she moved to Austin last spring. She is working as a physician’s assistant at an urgent care/family practice. She has loved exploring all the fun things the city has to offer such as the live music, fantastic shopping and great restaurants. Jon Berry reports that he is a Captain in the Army and has just been deployed this September to Iraq for 12 months. He will be based at Camp Taji, which is about 12 miles outside of Baghdad. When not in Iraq, John and his wife, Alina, spend time in Washington where they just bought a house in DuPont. He is the facilities contract construction managing engineer at Fort Lewis, WA. He is currently managing a $4 million renovation project of the Regional Corrections Facility. He has a few more years left in his obligation to the Army but hasn’t decided if he will stay active duty or switch to the reserves. In their spare time Jon and Alina enjoy biking and hiking. Dini Massad Homsey just celebrated her 1-year anniversary last June with husband Sam. They live in Edmond where Dini is a professor at the business college at the UCO. This fall she will start her Ph.D. in communications where she is excited to continue on her path of academia. Dini gets to keep in touch with several classmates through their Lebanese connection such
as Sami Mussalem, and Chris and Jennifer Farha. She also connects with other alums through the Junior League: Margo Reneau Ward ’99, Jenni Klos’99, Elizabeth Taylor ’99 and Eileen Price Everett ’99. Landi Orza Thompson is the education director for the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board and the conference supervisor for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association. She also has a small graphic design/invitation business on the side. She and her husband Matt love to travel when they can. They went to South America last year and can’t wait to go back! Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Johanna Burian is living with her husband of 3 years David James. They bought a cute little 1920s bungalow that they are restoring back to its original charms while sharing it with three cats and two dogs. Jo finished her masters of music in December of ’06 and is building a studio of high school horn students in addition to freelance playing. She had her first professional orchestra appearance with the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra last March. Last but certainly not least is our very own Skye Lowther, a.k.a. “The Reverend Skye Bleue”. Skye is an ordained minister and when she’s not doing that she reports that she spends her time working in the corporate world but mostly she enjoys fishing! That completes our class notes this time but I do look forward to hearing from more of you in the future. We’re always interested to hear what you are up to!
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Patrick Rooney 4230 Travis St. #17 Dallas, TX 75205 patrick.d.rooney@gmail.com After a brief hiatus, I am back on the docket to pen the class notes. Considering the scattered nature of this year’s update, and the fact that it is only about half true, maybe it’s time for a new tribune? Don’t everyone respond at once… Thanks for all the feedback – I was glad to hear that everyone is doing so well for themselves and I had a lot of fun putting this together. After developing an addiction to the TV show “Sex and the City,” Matt Venzin decided to follow his dreams and move to New York City to take a job working as a page at NBC Universal in news advertising sales in the summer of 2006. Since then he has worked on Saturday Night Live, Conan O’Brian and the Today show (he told me
it was nothing crazy, mostly working the audience, holding up the prompt cards and personally fine-tuning Conan’s opening dialogue). During his free time he is now the captain for the New York Manhattan Rugby Club and recently went down to Rio de Janeiro on a rugby tour – there are probably a few stories here that I shouldn’t send out for the larger audience. Sarah Reville has also stretched her legs in the television sector. Since college, she has worked as a production assistant for NBC and MTV Networks, and several of her scripts have been on TV. Morgan Musallam just finished his accounting MBA with a perfect 4.0 GPA – if only Mr. Reynolds could see you now… I ran into him this spring while he was finishing up classes, and at the time he was helping his aunt start a restaurant in OKC, doing everything from waiting tables, cooking, cleaning and spiking cocktails. Adrien Ferguson is also finishing up school, working on her dental hygiene degree at OU by day, and in triathlon training by night. I put in a request with the China News Agency for a photo from her 24th place triathlon finish in Beijing this summer, but the communist censors take months to process those types of requests. Maybe we’ll get something by our 10 year reunion? Matt Burkholder has been living in St. Louis, and is currently working for a fitness company as the “Director of Child Development,” morphing young kids into athletic machines. He is planning on making a move back to “Big League City” just in time for the Thunder’s home opener this fall. Jordan Rousseau moved to Houston after he graduated in 2006 to work for National Oilwell Varco as a software developer and has been slugging away ever since. In late August he accepted a job working at a technology consultation firm in Oklahoma City, and is also moving back to the city this fall. Jennifer Lee graduated from Vanderbilt in 2006 and since has been in law school at OU, along with Megan Morgan. They are both in their 3rd year and are slated to graduate in May. Last summer Megan worked as a clerk with the Internal Revenue Service, so feel free to direct all your tax return inquiries her direction. I’ve always heard that detailed tort reform discussions are a great way to meet girls, so you can count on a call from me soon Meg. In August Jennifer Lee was a bridesmaid and Kathryn Sullivan Leaman and Laura Cohen were
attendants in Laura Dillard Young’s wedding. Laura married Kyle Young, a 2003 Bishop McGuinness graduate, whom she met at McGuinness prom senior year. Who says chivalry is dead? Their story inspired a new movie starring the cast of High School Musical and Freddie Prince Junior to shoot on location and is due out next summer. Laura finished culinary school in Austin, TX, last year at Le Cordon Bleu with a degree in culinary arts and since has been working as a chef at the Lake Austin Spa & Resort. Laura Cohen and Jay Gallegly spent the last 2 years living in Tyler, TX. Jay was working as an athletic trainer and received his masters in kinesiology, while Laura worked at a local TV station in marketing. They just moved back to OKC in June, and now Laura works at Mason and Moon Advertising as an account coordinator, and Jay works at Casady as the Crabtree librarian and in the athletic department. Jay and Laura are looking to buy a house in the very near future. Kathryn Sullivan Leaman graduated from OU with a degree in journalism/ public relations, and also got her barbers and instructors license. She now works at the Anthony David Salon as a stylist and manager. Her primary responsibility is working with the News 9 anchors and reporters on their hair and makeup for their daily broadcasts. She got married last August in Hawaii. As for our internationally minded classmates, Beth Schonwald is teaching English as a 2nd language for TEFL International in Beijing, China. Cole Pettis lives in Korea teaching English, and Debbie Adams is living in Southeast Asia teaching English. In her free time she has hiked to ancient temples, eaten tarantulas, spent a lot of time on the beach and even managed to get dengue fever. Isn’t that what all my guys died of in “Oregon Trail?” Michelle Morgan is living in San Francisco and working on the East Bay at Paulson Press. She is living with a heavily tattooed engineer man and her cats, Chairman Meow and Harry Callahan. Amy Williams Hinton and her husband live in Houston with their two dogs, Roz and Clyde. She just started her 3rd year at Baylor College of Medicine, and has decided to do a family medicine residency with the plan to ultimately work in a rural ER. Cooper Patterson and Max Hellman are both living out in California, Cooper in San Diego, Max in Sacramento. Cooper just obtained his commercial pilot’s
license and is planning on continuing his flight training in multi-engine airplanes. He has also been doing a lot of sailing and now has enough sea time to obtain his USCG Captain’s license, which he plans on completing by Christmas. Cooper, can I come hang out with you some weekend? Max Hellman graduated from Wheaton in 2007 with a degree in US history and a philosophy minor. He worked in Boston for a year and a half, first working for a large foreclosures law firm and then for a year as a clerk in a lobbying law firm, Johnson Haley LLP. He moved out to Sacramento in July and started law school at University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Bart Shelley is currently coaching the Casady 5th grade baseball team. In his free time he also sells commercial insurance for the Wausau Signature Agency in OKC. He and I spent a week in Colorado this summer trout fishing, and while we were there we randomly picked up a hitcher, none other than our very own Kolin Knapp, who got stranded when his trusty Durango ran out of gas on I-70. We found out that Kolin had decided to put medical school on hold to focus on his more lucrative career ambition, becoming a full-time whitewater rafting guide. This summer he worked for Lakota Guides out of Vail, CO, rafting the Arkansas, Eagle, and Colorado rivers. He has also guided in Interlaken, Switzerland on the Lutschine River. Rachel Cody moved from Chicago to the southern part of Illinois in July to start grad school. She is working on a masters degree in educational psychology with a focus in community counseling. Over the summer she spent 2 weeks in Finland, Estonia and Russia. Emily Stanley just moved to Newark, Delaware (about an hour from Philadelphia and Baltimore) to start a Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at the University of Delaware. Lauren Carlisle stayed in Atlanta for 2 years after college, working as a part-time paralegal with the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network and a part-time ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. She is now in her 1st year of law school at American University and plans to go into refugee/asylee rights advocacy work afterwards. Ryan Smith is starting his 2nd year of law school at OCU after a summer internship with the attorney general of North Carolina. Recently he ran into Bill Parker, who is a first-year law student at OCU. Adam Kallstrom lives in OKC and works at Hartzog, Conger, Cason & Neville. Amy Bockus, Kim Thetford, and Laura Park are living together in New
Alumni Participation in the 2007-2008 Annual Fund How did your class rank? 1953 1956 1951 1952 1958 1954 1966 1955 2008 1976 1973 1960 1957 1978 1974 1995 1975 1984 1994 2005 1989 1999 1980 1988 1961 1992 1981 1977 1972 1969 1979 1998 1962 1990 1965 1996 1967 1971 1982 2007 1968 1993 2006 2000 1987 1991 2002 1997 1985 2003 1959 1970 1964 1983 1986 2004 2001 1963
63.60% 52.90% 50.00% 45.50% 44.40% 42.90% 37.50% 35.50% 33.20% 32.80% 31.30% 29.40% 29.20% 27.90% 26.20% 24.30% 23.20% 23.20% 22.00% 21.80% 21.60% 20.30% 19.10% 19.10% 18.80% 18.40% 18.20% 18.00% 17.90% 17.50% 17.10% 16.90% 16.70% 16.70% 16.20% 15.90% 15.80% 14.80% 14.60% 14.50% 14.30% 13.00% 12.40% 11.80% 11.30% 11.30% 10.70% 8.60% 8.30% 7.60% 7.10% 6.60% 6.10% 4.80% 4.30% 4.00% 1.70% 0.00%
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York City. Although closet space has become a “nightmare,” they recently moved out of their corrugated cardboard 3-bedroom near the Hudson to the West Village. Amy works at a production, publicity, and management company called Full Picture, which produces the hit suspense-drama series Project Runway. Amy mainly works on fashion public relations accounts and will work backstage at several shows during fashion week. Recently she worked on a vitamin water public relations event with their new spokesperson, Carrie Underwood, as she toured her old alma mater in Tahlequah, OK. The girls also spend a lot of time with Liz Portman, who also lives in NYC. Jessica Barki has been living in Chicago and working at EcoSure since she graduated. She recently moved from Wrigleyville to Wicker Park, and enrolled at the University of Illinois-Chicago to finish her physicians assistant prerequisites. She is planning on entering PA school next fall. Jessica Furmanski is living in Jamaica directing Reggae music videos and teaching literacy classes through the Peace Corps. Katharine Samis got engaged in March to Kent Regens ’00 and is planning a wedding for next May. Patterson Sims and Anne Heatly are both working in the oil and gas business. Patterson works in Ft. Worth as a staff landman for Aspect Energy, and Anne is a land assistant for Chesapeake. Mollie Bennett teaches Club 56 at Westminster and serves on the Casady Alumni Association Board. Megan Naifeh is living in Dallas working for Republic National Distributing Company. She told me that she really enjoys Dallas, especially during OU-Texas weekend, even though she constantly has to correct falsely entitled Texans who call the game “Texas-OU” instead. I think it’s safe to say that arrogant Texans are an annoyance to any of us living south of the border. Over the summer she visited Dana Hobbs in South Carolina, which was fun except for an incident involving Dana and a hoard of jelly fish. Greg Stewart completed his degrees in international business and Spanish and lived in Granada, Spain for 6 months. Currently he is working for First Fidelity Bank in OKC in the professional development program. Over the summer he took an excursion to Ireland with his family to Dublin, Killarney, and Adare Manor. Chris Stolte is in his 2nd and final year of his master’s in sports management at the University of San Francisco. He also works
for the NFL Network, which is strange because he is always in the cellar of our very own Casady Alumni fantasy football league. Other distinguished members not already mentioned include Lance Lane, Bryce Baumann, Robert Polk, and Andrew Solomon. Lance is in his 3rd year of medical school at OU; Bryce is in his 3rd year of dental school at OU; Robert is in his 1st year of business school at Rice; and Andrew Solomon works for a commercial real estate developer in OKC. Dustin Harman graduated from OU last spring with a mechanical engineering degree, and is now working on his industrial engineering/MBA degrees. He has plans to move to California or Montana when he gets out of school and would like to pursue a career in alternative/sustainable energy. He told me that Carter Wallace got married last winter. Sean Stone finished school at the Savannah College of Art and Design in fall of 2006 with a photography degree. He stayed in Savannah for a while and had his first solo show in 2007. He moved back to OKC in the summer of 2007, and for the last year he has been running an art gallery in the Paseo. He is planning on moving to Australia this fall. Andrew Richard and I worked in Atlanta with SunTrust for 2 years after graduating from Vanderbilt. Although we were both spared in the first round of layoffs, we both decided the investment banking waters looked dire and left the bank in the spring. Andrew landed a job through a client relationship he made while at SunTrust, working down in Fort Lauderdale with Harley-Davidson. His current job encompasses M&A analysis, business analysis, general sales management and eCommerce. He tells me that since moving down south, he has put 5,000 miles on his Harley, gotten scuba certified and to help fit in has inked himself with fullsleeve biker tattoos (both arms). As for me, I left SunTrust in March, took the GMAT business school admissions test in April, traveled through Europe with my brothers in May and started with Cowboy Cabs down in Dallas in June. If you ever need a disco/karaoke cabbie in Dallas, I’m your man.
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Paige Warner 860 E. 25th Street Houston, Texas 77009 (405) 642-7570 paigewarner@gmail.com Like the Olympic Torch passed from athlete to athlete, so has been passed the correspondent torch from Katie Morgan to me. After some kind requests and a little harassing, I got the dish on many classmates. Please do enjoy: The first ’04 grad to lengthen her name, Thornley Minor McWilliam, married Dave McWilliam on July 12, 2008 in her hometown of Birmingham, AL. Amanda Oehlert served as her maid of honor and Katy Albert was a bridesmaid. Virginia Hefner and her family also attended and boogied the night away in celebration. Thornley and her new hubby are living in Columbia, SC, where she is working, and he attends law school. Two classmates will soon follow Thornley in taking the plunge. Drew Dawkins and Bailey Schnebel are engaged, but, thankfully, not to each other. Drew is engaged to Brittany Raymond, and surprise! She is his same age. I am just as shocked as the rest of you. Bailey is engaged to Jacob Coleman, her longtime sweetheart whom she met her 1st semester at Centre College in Kentucky. They will be married in the Casady chapel next June but, sadly, Father Marlin is unable to officiate. Besides being busy planning her wedding, Bailey is learning the ins and outs of flossing at the OU College of Dentistry. She has yet to receive any free toothbrushes or travel toothpaste. Best of luck and congrats to Bailey and Drew! As I was gathering information for this update, I noticed a recurring theme among our classmates: law school. Perhaps our class was inspired by Mrs. Mueller’s compelling study of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, or at least a gripping John Grisham movie. If any ’04 grad needs some law advice one day, there will be quite a pool of sharks from which to choose. Kayli Maxwell graduated from Davidson with a degree in field hockey. She will be attending University of South Carolina law school. Her closest neighbor to the West, Lindsey Parke, will be concentrating in health law at the University of Georgia law chool. Lindsey graduated from Wake Forest University in May and moved to Athens, her new favorite city. She is most excited about all of the awesome bars and boutiques on the main drag where
she lives. Hopefully she will not be the first member of the Parke family to get a B+ in school with all of those distractions. Lauren Ottaway will be carrying on her family legacy in the field of law by attending Boston University Law School this fall. She graduated from Washington and Lee in May, along with Carrie Swinford. Carrie is going to, what else? Law school at OU, where she was awarded a scholarship. She said after emptying her wallet buying textbooks, she feels “tricked and manipulated by the academic community for encouraging me to continue my studies into graduate school, making me feel like I would truly grow as an intellectual when all they really wanted from me was cold hard cash”. Maybe she could file a civil suit with the rest of the law school attendees, including her OU College of Law classmate, Kelsey Quillian. Kelsey graduated from the University of Kansas after a busy year serving as the Gamma Phi Beta president and interning at the Kansas state capitol. She is a proud new mama to Lola Laverne Quillian, a darling pug that is almost as hyper as her mother, and Louie, another rescue pug. Kelsey, were you worried that you weren’t going to lose enough sleep during your 1st year of law school as it is? I was delighted to see Kelsey, Elizabeth Polk and Ryan Thompson at Flip’s while I was in town this summer. Elizabeth graduated from USC with a degree in business with an emphasis in finance law. She has since left the west coast to attend law school at Southern Methodist University. She is very excited to be closer to her family and friends and loves Dallas. Ryan is working in banking in OKC and graduated from OU last spring. I also saw two of my favorite FIJIs in OKC, Will McGarry and Hank Johnson. They will be graduating from OU this December and both plan on applying to law school for the fall of 2009. Until then, Will is working as a land man for Turner Oil and Gas Properties and Hank is a cow dog. Will’s roommate, Ben Davis, will complete his geology degree from OU in 2009. He transferred to OU from Regis University in Colorado where he played soccer for his first 3 years of college. Now he puts the “jock” in “rocks for jocks”! Maninder Atwall is also finishing up his last year at OU after recovering from quite a trip in India this past summer. He returned to visit his extended family after being away for 15 years and managed to catch a few music festivals and a remarkable
fireworks show. After he graduates, his plan is to travel some more and eventually attend Parker School of Chiropractics in Dallas where he can learn to pop my back. Yet another classmate to take a victory lap and graduate in ’09 is Thomas Hunzicker. Thomas is slinging pies at The Hideaway in Norman where he is the kitchen manager and pizza taster. He is pondering moving back to Colorado to continue his studies in history and anthropology after he graduates from OU in the spring. Becca Bodenhamer is breathing easy as a “Super Senior” at OU. She will graduate in May with a degree in energy management and a minor in art history. After an internship with Swift Energy in Houston this past summer, she accepted a job offer with the company. She will be returning to Houston post graduation to begin her position as a land (wo)man. Until then, she will be working part-time for a broker in OKC and enjoying a lighter course load. I am anxiously awaiting her move to Houston! Kristine Knox is putting the final touches on her health and exercise science degree in her last semester at OU. After graduation in December, she will focus on her application for the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the OU Health and Sciences Center. She is looking forward to concentrating in dietetics, where she will learn sneaky ways to get people to eat more vegetables. Lauren Strong is keeping very busy during her last year at OU. This past summer she worked in Kansas for Quest Resource Corporation, a company she has interned with since 2007. She will continue working for them in their downtown offices in OKC while she completes her finance and energy management majors. She will be traveling to Spain in May for her senior capstone class and after graduating will begin looking at law schools where she hopes to concentrate in the oil and gas field. Lauren mentioned that she ran into Brooke and Lauren Anthony ’01 in Dallas recently. I also had the good fortune of scoring a lunch date with Brooke when I was in Dallas for a wedding in July (where I saw Chris Stolte ’02 and Andrew Solomon ’02 looking fly in a seersucker suit). Brooke graduated in May from SMU with an advertising degree and a minor in psychology. She is now taking interior design classes at The Art Institute in Dallas. She is driving Lauren nuts using the new house they bought to test out her every designing whim, although I have to say it looked
like it had been decorated by a seasoned professional considering they only recently moved in. All of the Anthony sisters have been reunited in Dallas as Kelly Anthony ’08 is a freshman at SMU this fall. Amelia Pyz is also in Texas where she is completing her last semester at Texas Christian University. She will graduate with honors in December with a BBA in entrepreneurial management, marketing and psychology. She will then either pursue her masters in one of those fields or step into the real world and find a job. Jack McClendon relocated to Houston, TX after he graduated (on time, he adds) from Duke University with degrees in economics and history. Shortly after graduating, he squandered away the money he received in Europe over the course of 5 weeks. He is currently working blocks away from me downtown as an energy investment banker (i.e. balla) at Jeffries Randall & Dewey. He was kind enough to offer his classmates some off-the-record investing advice. Currently, his investment picks are freedom and capitalism. Gee, thanks Several ’04 grads have settled on the east coast after graduating from college. I managed to catch up with Brown University alumna Brandon Cook while I was battling ants that had taken up residence in the hood of my car to escape the torrential rain in Houston. Brandon is “livin’ la vida broke-a” in Brooklyn and putting his comparative literature degree to use working in publishing. I also got some quality Brandon time in the summer of ’07 when I visited him in Paris while he was studying abroad. He took me to Paris’ best falafel stand, which I would recommend, and a few questionable Turkish bars, which I would not. He was an excellent tour guide and I hope to experience more of his tourist picks in New York soon. Also living in Brooklyn is Christina Kerns. She graduated from Pratt as a photography major and minored in art history. She is spending most of her time adding to her already impressive portfolio and working with other photographers as well. If you want to see some of her works of art, visit her website at www. christinakerns.com. Maggie Miller moved to New York City’s Lower East Side after graduating from Duke. She is working at Universal Music Group in the Global Digital Initiatives Department, which deals with online advertising and digital assets. Small World Alert! She is living with 2 of Lindsey Drake’s roommates from Vanderbilt and has coffee dates with Patrick Griffin when
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their schedules allow. Her biggest news by far, however, was her spotting Sean “Puff Daddy/Puffy/P. Diddy/Diddy” Combs on the street. He asked her to be his new assistant, but she declined, and so he had to make a new MTV show instead. Patrick Griffin is “keepin’ it real” in NYC doing structured fixed income for JP Morgan Investment Management. He graduated from Haaaaaarvard with an economics degree and reported he played putt-putt with Davis Love III at the US Open in June. Fore! Christina Mannion has also relocated to New York after she graduated from Princeton with an English degree. She is now working in healthcare at Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive search firm in New York City. Steven “Steve-O” Canfield has traded coasts to further his education at Yale University, where he is pursuing his masters in computer science. After studying abroad in Dunedin, New Zealand, he graduated from the University of Puget Sound in Washington in May. He spent the summer interning for Pepsi and drinking lots of free soda. Jordan Thompson graduated from Haverford College and has decided to stay in Pennsylvania. She is busy becoming the next Mrs. Miano teaching 10th grade geometry with Teach for America in Philadelphia. Former Class of ’04 correspondent Katie Morgan has been busy working for Congressman Marsha Blackburn’s office in our nation’s capital since June as the staff assistant. She graduated from Vanderbilt in May but will be returning to visit her sister, Mary Anne Morgan ’08, who is now a freshman there. Katie reports that she loves living in DC with friends and working amidst all of the excitement on Capitol Hill. I was happy to hear from Peyton Hurley, who is in Fort Benning, GA, doing infantry training. Peyton says, “I have 5 schools to go to over the next 9 to 11 months which are: Basic Officer Leadership Course II and III, Ranger School, Airborne School and Stryker Leader Course. After that I am headed to Fort Lewis, WA where I will spend the next 3 to 4 years (1 to 2 of which will probably be in Iraq)”. I know we will all be thinking of you, Peyton, so please keep us updated! A few Cyclones are blowin’ and goin’ in the Windy City. Madeline Wager graduated in the spring from The Theatre School of DePaul University with a BFA in theatre arts. She embarked on a road trip with Adam Price
and Brandon Cook from Chicago to OKC in August. They made a few notable pit-stops along the way, including seeing the world’s largest ball of yarn. How exciting! Madeline returned to Chicago with plans to be a makeup artist for film and theatre. She is still splitting sides performing improv and comedy routines. Brandon and Madeline report that Adam Price is also living in Chi-town. He graduated from Northwestern and interned with Disney Pictures this summer. Rumor has it that he is planning a move to New York City this spring to pursue more avenues in film. After graduating from Vanderbilt, Lindsey Drake moved to Chicago and recently began working at Starcom Mediavest, a large media communications firm downtown. She says, “Chicago during the summer is so amazing and there are so many things to do--who knew there was a beach!” I wonder if she knows about Chicago’s notorious winters? Not far away at the University of Illinois is Chris Co. He is continuing on to a masters in electrical and computer engineering where he is concentrating on robotics. He is also a teacher’s assistant and a network systems administrator for a research lab. For the past two years, Chris has been building a biped robot from scratch in his spare time and reports that it is walking on its own, but hopefully only when he tells it to. As if he weren’t busy enough, Chris also contributed to his university’s satellite project and still plays the occasional ditty on his oboe. Jessica Linn is nearby in Ohio at Miami University where she will complete her BFA in interior design later this year. She fell into the Gap this summer with an internship and also found time to squeeze in a few road trips with pals. She is currently working on her senior capstone project and hopes to focus on retail and hospitality design after she graduates. She wrapped up her update by saying as much as she has loved Miami, she is looking forward to never returning to Ohio. Unlike Jessica, Stuart Hudson is loving the Midwest. He graduated in May from Macalester College with a BA in philosophy (he must keep his deepest thoughts in all of his hair) and is living in Minneapolis. He is working for a small Twin Cities nonprofit organization, The NetWork for Better Futures, which is dedicated to rehabilitating recently incarcerated men. Stu reports he is still creating mad beats from his everexpanding soul, jazz and hip-hop record collection and DJs weekly around town.
Keep up with his spinnin’ on his blog, http://tcsoulsearch.blogspot.com/. And now for the International portion of the updates: Our favorite foreign exchange student, Claudio Petrarulo, returned to Italy after graduation for his last year of high school. He said it was hard to return home because our class “left such a hole in his heart”. Aww… After he completed high school, he stayed in his home town of Torino to continue his studies in economic engineering. He has continued to be active in track and field and skiing. He works as a ski instructor and even traveled to Russia to compete in an international competition amongst other ski instructors. He also volunteered at the winter Olympic Games Torino hosted in 2006. Claudio has been kind enough to host many members of the Casady family in Europe, including Kayli Maxwell, John Portman ’03, and his Casady host family, the Ainsworths’. He also bumped into Amelia Issac ’06 and Natasha Chaudry ’06 in Oxford, England. Thank you, Claudio, for keeping in touch and being an excellent tour guide to our friends abroad! Amanda Oehlert earned her BA in French and English from Guilford College and is teaching English to high school students in Vendome, a small town located in the Loire Valley. She is tres excited to live in France and have the opportunity to travel around Europe over school holidays. She will be posting all of her adventures on her blog, which you can read at http://aoehlert. blog.com. In other news, Amanda has remained very active over the last 4 years. She swam for Guilford and co-captained the swim team her senior year. She also completed her 1st triathlon and 1st century bike ride in August. I am tired just thinking about her workouts. Bonne chance in France, Amanda! The fabulous Alexandra Polk is continuing to lead a jet-set life. She has temporarily relocated from London to Los Angeles for internships as part of her degree program at Central St. Martins. After interning with designer Jeremy Scott for a fashion season that included working behind the scenes at Paris Fashion Week, she has moved on to a new internship with ReVamp Vintage. There, she is learning advanced sewing techniques that will be essential to the success of her final collection back in London. Right now she is soaking up the sun while she can, living with her sister Danielle ’03 and British cat, Rubyjane. Also living in the City of Angels is Tim Seitter. Tim reports that he is working like
crazy as a production assistant for many television shows and films. For a complete list of flicks he has worked on, you can search IMDB.com for his name. Some notable projects include the television shows Prison Break, Journeyman, Women’s Murder Club, and A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. Additionally, he has assisted for 3 upcoming movies, including a comedy starring Pauly Shore. Another grad in sunny Cali is Alex Baker. She graduated with a BA in economics and business from Westmont College and decided to stick around in Santa Barbara, and who could blame her? She is currently riding the Straight Talk Express fundraising for John McCain and the Republican Party which will keep her occupied until the presidential election is over. After November she will be focusing on putting the “fun” in fundraising for the California gubernatorial election, but says “I don’t think I want to be in political fundraising forever. There is too much duplicity!” Alex added that she would love to catch up with other Casady grads in California, so if you’re in the area, feel free to email her at bakerdevelopment@gmail. com. Caitlin Dixon is next door in Nevada. She is attending the University of Nevada in Reno where she is studying dietetics. Perhaps she and Kristine should team up to become vegetable crusaders. Quite a few Casady Alumni have chosen to embark on the long, dark journey of medical school. Calling Hakeem “Overachiever” Shakir “busy” is the understatement of the year. He graduated in December 2006 (that’s not a typo! 2006!) from the Honors College at OU with a degree in Spanish. After volunteering in South America and relaxing for a semester, Hakeem was accepted at OU College of Medicine. He is now in his 2nd year of medical school and somehow finds the time for all of his duties as class president. He is resembling George Clooney’s Dr. Doug Ross more and more these days as the course load turns his hair gray. He reports that at least he is in good company; Bhalaajee MeenakshiSundaram ’03, Patrick Ford ’02, Farhad Omoumi ’02, Fadi Balla ’02, and Kolin Knapp ’02 are all in his class. He also sees 1st-year med students Rachel Clapper, Grant Lane, Britney Martin and Rajeev Ramgopal ’01 almost every day. Rachel Schneider graduated from Regis University in Colorado and is taking a year off before she applies to medical
school. She is currently a ski instructor in Breckenridge teaching kids when to “pizza” and “french fry”. I was able to visit her in Golden, CO, 2 summers ago and had a grand time shopping at her favorite antique stores. Another future doctor, Nathan Overbey, is putting together his application to medical school while working for Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates at the Heart Hospital in OKC. He is planning to attend medical school in the fall of 2009. Also working in OKC is Katy Albert. Thornley Minor McWilliam informed me that Katy accepted a position working for the Oklahoma Blood Institute, where I am sure she receives oodles of free t-shirts. Natalie Swisher recently moved back to Oklahoma after she graduated in May from North Carolina State University. Although she has a biology degree and minored in nutrition, she is attending graduate school at OU to earn her masters in intercollegiate athletic administration. She will also be busy working as an assistant for one of the OU associate athletic directors. Back from Colorado, Virginia Hefner reports that she is excited to be living in OKC again. She graduated in June from the University of Denver with a BSBA in international business and a minor in ethics and legal studies. She is a student once more in the MBA program at OCU and will graduate next fall. Virginia says she can hardly wait until this October when she will be an aunt! Her sister, Leigh Hefner Smith ’03, is expecting her 1st child and lots of free babysitting from Virginia. Congratulations! I heard through the grapevine that Lawre Everest is living in OKC. She did not, however, return any of my pleas for more information, so I am concluding she is working as an undercover agent who lives under a veil of secrecy. I ran into Drew Bozalis while I was in OKC in July. I did not get a full rundown on what he is up to, but I can relay he is growing a beard. I also saw Mark Pahl for a moment. He is a major ladies’ man at Washington and Lee University and loves karaoke bars (true story). Rohit Krishna Joshi was kind enough to write in and say he was abstaining from writing in, and I heard that Shane Edwards is currently living in Florida. And now, last but not least (I hope), my update. I graduated in May 2007 from OU with a degree in psychology and a minor in sociology. I moved to Houston, and I am working at Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. as
a project assistant for anti-trust litigation attorneys. Incidentally, David Fotohui ’03, who is in his 2nd year at Harvard Law School, was a summer associate at Fulbright & Jaworski, but he was so busy I only saw him in the elevator. I am warming up to Houston (literally, this place is a swamp) and so far have survived the hurricane season. The highlight of my life is my dog, Dewey Melvil Warner, who is a gift from the heavens. I teach him funny tricks like combat crawling and dancing, which he performed recently for Alexandra Polk when she visited me for a weekend. Alex and I met up with Jack McClendon and had a grand old time in Midtown. We had a mini Casady reunion when we saw Robert Polk ’02, who is attending the MBA program at Rice University, randomly on the street. I am still enjoying Gales-like activities like baking and making signs, so in a nutshell, life is good. I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing from my classmates and I hope that you all keep updating me on your ever-changing lives. For those of you on Facebook, check in occasionally on the Casady Class of ’04 Group page for due dates and alumni news. To those who were not included in this edition of Class Notes, don’t be left out next time! Thank you to all who contributed for making my 1st attempt as class correspondent a success!
Bailey Schnebel’s engagement party in July included these 2004 classmates. Front row: Katie Morgan and Carrie Swinford. Back row: Lauren Ottaway, Lindsey Parke, Paige Warner, Bailey Schnebel and Kayli Maxwell.
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life
events
MARRIAGES:
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Kelli Mowdy ’95 and Michael McNicholas – March 11, 2008 Rachel Samara ’96 and Nelson Bolen ’93 – July 12, 2008 Sunita Rani Chahar and Neil Crittenden ’01 – July 5, 2008 Emily Huffman ’00 and Paul A. Kelly – June 9, 2007 Christina and Greg Gray ’84 – May, 2008 Mary Anne Savage ’94 and Andrew Thomas ’84 – May 3, 2008 Tiffiny and Bryan Weidner ’84 – Feb. 3, 2007 Margaret Lytle Griner ’54 and Paul Griner – May 24, 2008 Carolyn Hofmann ’94 and Jason Carpenter – May, 2008 Lauren and Luke Mitchell ’96 – March, 2008 Lauren Keller and Will Corbyn ’97 – Nov. 8, 2008 Krysten Sullivan ’00 and Jason Tidwell – Sept. 1, 2008 Jon Fowler ’00 and Natalie Brown ’02 – April 12, 2008 Kevin Corbyn ’00 and Susan Ratcliff – May, 2008 Laura Dillard ’02 and Kyle Young – August, 2008 Thornley Minor ’04 and Dave McWilliam – July 12, 2008 Lauren Carter Samis ’98 and Fred Harris Fellers III – Nov. 1, 2008 Katie Dudman ‘95 and Jonathon Jones – Oct. 20, 2007
Editor’s Note:
Experience has taught us that much heartbreak and embarrassment is avoided when we do not publish news of engagements or pregnancies. It is our delight and honor to publish news of marriages births, and adoptions.
BIRTHS:
DEATHS:
Emily (Huffman) ‘00 and Paul Kelly – Madeleine Augusta born March 11, 2008 Elizabeth (Huffman) ’95 and Lee M. Kaplan – Benjamin Jay born April 8, 2008 Sherri and Will Blaik ’88 – Allison Kate Blaik born July 3, 2008 Katie (Blaik) ’90 and John James Jr. – Elizabeth Lindsey James born Sept. 2, 2008 Tiffany (Harrison) ’82 and Jon Sweet – Samantha born May, 2008 Ashley (Glenn) ’88 and Shay McHone – Molly born June 28, 2007 and Caleb born June 17, 2008 Melissa Lawton ‘90 and Michael Wayne – Eliza Madeline born August, 2008 Debbie (Ephraim) ‘90 and Josh Trob – twins Andrew and Megan born Aug. 29, 2009 Tiffiny and Bryan Weidner ’84 – Repp David Dean Weidner born Sept. 19, 2008 Dominique (Homsey) ’92 and Craig Gross – Gabriella born Feb. 8, 2008 Elisabeth (Hassebroek) ’92 and Jack Larkin – Hunter born April 15, 2008 Bridget (Mikysa) ’92 and Joe Lauro – Anneliese Victoria born September, 2008 Amy and Kevin Holmes ’92 – Hadley Harper born February, 2008 Ellen and Drew Wedemeyer ’92 – Joshua Grant born September, 2007 Allyson and Adam Marshall ’92 – Keira Riley born April 10, 2008 Megan and Jon Hill ‘96 – Emory Grace born October, 2007 Jane and Eric Stewart ‘96 – Benjamin Goodwin born January, 2008 Megan (Holmes) ‘96 and Clark Sutton – Morgan Rose born May, 2008 Nonie and Beau Hawkins ’96 – Alexander born June, 2008 Amanda (Shockey) ’98 and Brian Porter – Mason Wade born September, 2008 Charlotte (Biddinger) ‘98 and Michael Brown – Susannah Jane born June 21, 2008 Kristin (Morgan) ‘98 and Erik Fares – Charlotte Joyce born Jan. 16, 2008 Mary Anne (Savage) ’94 and Andrew Thomas ’84 - Jane Marie born Oct. 28, 2008
Phil Bass ‘54 William M. Blaik David Childs ‘08 Ann Trent East ’58 David Fisher ‘72 Susan Fowler Bill Hinkle ‘87 Martha Nagle ‘58 John W. Nichols Michael H. Powell ’54 David Richardson ‘71 David Webb Dan Wert ‘85
WILLIAM M. BLAIK April 25, 1927 - Sept. 21, 2008
Casady has lost a strong and ardent supporter of the School. Former Board of Trustees Chairman William M. Blaik passed away in September. He has been involved in the School for many years, and the administration building on the Upper Division campus bears the family name. Blaik Hall, houses the Headmaster, development and business offices. Mr. Blaik was born April 25, 1927, in Dayton, Ohio, and spent most of his younger years in the northeast. He attended Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire in 1945, served in the U.S. Army Occupation Forces in Germany in 1946 to 1948 and returned to the United States and attended Dartmouth College. He graduated with a BS in Geology and after graduation he began his career in the oil and gas industry working for Standard Oil. In 1956 Mr. Blaik formed Blaik Oil Co. and explored for oil and gas in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. Eventually, after enjoying his time as an independent oil producer, he sold his company as well as cattle and real estate operations in Kansas and Colorado and began his retirement. He served as mayor of Nichols Hills and was involved with his wife Shirley in many community projects. Bill and Shirley spent many years traveling and enjoying the company of family and friends. His passions in his waning years were his ranch in Logan County and his guitar. He leaves behind his wife Shirley, son Will Blaik ’88 and wife Sherri, daughter Katie Blaik James ’90 and husband John and grandchildren Mattox and Allison Blaik, and Elizabeth James and step-grandchildren, Conner and Jackson James. His brother, Robert Blaik, lives in Scottsdale, AZ. Memorials may be made to the Blaik Family Fund at Casady.
DAVID IAN CHILDS Dec. 26, 1989 – June 12, 2008
When the Casady community loses one of its own, especially one so young, it is a heartbreaking moment in the School’s history. David Childs graduated Cum Laude from Casady on May 31, 2008, and passed away on June 12. He was an accomplished guitarist and violinist and served Casady as a member of student council, editor of The Crier and concertmaster of the Casady Orchestra. As a student ambassador for People to People he spent three summers in Australia, Europe and the United Kingdom. David logged more than 200 hours of community service during his Upper Division years. Fee Theater was a special venue for David during his years at Casady. David left the Norman school system and joined Casady in eighth grade, a year after his father, Jay Childs, became a member of the faculty here. David was immediately comfortable with the level of academics and found his place in the School’s musical community. Marilyn A. Laremore, his maternal grandmother, was a devoted fan who spent many years attending his performances. Ms. Laremore passed away soon after David on Sept. 7. Many of David’s classmates will attest not only to his charm, wit, humor, warmth and intelligence, but also to his incredible musical and poetic gifts. The Childs’ family has asked that memorials in David’s name and in his grandmother’s name be directed to Casady School to benefit handicapped access to Fee Theater. David leaves behind his parents Marnie and Jay Childs and brother Nathan Childs of Oklahoma City; and his grandmother Kay Childs Bissell, his step-grandfather William Bissell and his great-grandmother Lowrie Wurts Ebbert all of Pittsburgh, PA.
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Alumni Awards Reception Distinguished Graduate Award • Alumni Achievement Award • Young Alumni Achievement Award the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Boathouse Foundation, the Research Institute for Economic Development, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and is a trustee of Casady. In 1990, Clay received the Dean A. McGee Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the development of downtown Oklahoma City. In 1997, he was presented the Economic Development Citizen Leadership Award by the National Council of Urban Economic Development; this national award is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of urban economic development. In 2007, Clay was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. After graduating from Casady, Clay attended the University of Oklahoma. He is married to Louise Gaylord Bennett ’79, past member of Casady’s Board of Trustees. They have three children, Mollie ’02, Christy ’06 and Graham ’12.
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Introducing award recipients at the Alumni Award Reception on Oct. 30 were Janell Flanery ’76, immediate past president of the Alumni board, and Michael Love ’93, a member of the board and chair of the golf tournament. This year, the Board of Directors of the Casady Alumni Association chose five graduates to be honored with awards at the annual Alumni Awards Reception. The three categories for awards are Distinguished Graduate, Alumni Achievement and Young Alumni Achievement. Honorees for 2008 are Clayton I. Bennett ’78 as Distinguished Graduate, brothers Robert H. Nelson II ’93 and Charles E. Nelson II ’88 for Alumni Achievement as well as John H. Montgomery ’58 for Alumni Achievement. Molly Wizenberg ’97 was presented with the Young Alumni Achievement Award. The event was held Oct. 30 in the McClendon Middle Division building during homecoming weekend at Casady. More than 150 classmates, friends, family, trustees, Alumni Association board members and other members of the Casady Community attended the event.
CLAYTON I. BENNETT ’78
Clayton I. Bennett serves as President of Dorchester Capital, a diversified private investment company, and Chairman of the Oklahoma City Thunder, a franchise of the National Basketball Association. In addition, Bennett is involved in a broad variety of investment activities and serves as an officer and director of numerous business entities. Highly involved in civic and charitable affairs, Clay currently serves as Chairman of the Oklahoma State Fair and the Oklahoma Industries Authority. He is a past chairman of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, the Oklahoma Heritage Association, Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. and the Oklahoma Health Center Foundation. Clay serves as Director of the Oklahoma City Industrial and Cultural Facilities Trust,
CHARLES E. NELSON II ’88
Charles caught the entrepreneur bug at an early age. While most kids were still kicking a ball around their backyard, Charles was suited up, selling greeting cards door to door. As a teen, he banded his two best friends together to sell their amateur window washing services throughout Oklahoma City. And that was just the beginning. After receiving his MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia in 1996, Charles worked in corporate
Clay Bennett ’78 accepted the Distinguished Graduate Award and spoke to the Casady Community about the impact Casady has had on his life.
Distinguished Gradute Award
Young Alumni Achievement Award
Clayton I. Bennett ’78
Molly Wizenberg ’97
Alumni Achievement Award
John H. Montgomery ’58
Robert H. Nelson II ’93
finance, raising growth capital and advising start-ups. In 2003, he and his wife Candace conceived the idea of a cupcake bakery and started to work on the recipes and store design. Two years later, Sprinkles Cupcakes opened in Beverly Hills. Now, in his role as the president and strategic business mind of Sprinkles Cupcakes Inc., Charles is committed to growing the company’s retail presence and expanding its line of branded products. Sprinkles has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Nightline, Martha Stewart, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, The Tyra Banks Show amongst many others. The company was also cited in Time magazine’s editorial “Cupcake Nation.” Charles and his wife, Candace, reside in Los Angeles.
ROBERT H. NELSON II ’93
Bobby Nelson assumed the role of vice president and chief financial officer of Sprinkles Cupcakes Inc. in 2006 after serving almost a year as a financial consultant to the company. He oversees financial operations and market expansion, while also serving as secretary of the board of directors. Besides its original location in Beverly Hills, Sprinkles Cupcakes can also be found in Newport Beach and Palo Alto, CA, PhoenixScottsdale and closer to home in Dallas at Plaza at Preston Center, 4020 Villanova Dr. Houston is the next location slated to open. Bobby previously worked for Stonegate-Hogan as a commercial real estate broker before co-founding Granite Partners, an oil and gas investment company.
Charles E. Nelson II ’88
Libby Bradshaw Nelson ’93 congratulates her husband Bobby Nelson ’93 on his Alumni Achievement Award.
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the federal legislation authorizing the new American Indian Cultural Center and Museum and funding for the low level dams on the Oklahoma River. In response to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in 1995, he worked with the White House and Congress to design and initiate a new program that provided $51 million in direct funding to the City. This program was utilized in both the World Trade Center and Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. John and his wife Marilyn live in Chevy Chase, MD. They have three sons Colin, Hunter and Porter.
MOLLY WIZENBERG ’97
John Montgomery ’58 traveled with his wife Marilyn from Maryland to accept the Alumni Achievement Award. He holds a BBA degree in Finance from the University of Oklahoma and lives in Oklahoma City with his wife Libby Bradshaw Nelson ’93 and their daughter Charlotte, 1 ½.
JOHN H. MONTGOMERY ’58
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John Montgomery was born and reared in Oklahoma and spent his college summers working in the Oklahoma oil fields. He graduated from Princeton University with honors in 1962 and then served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in Germany from 1963-1965. He graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center with a Juris Doctorate degree in 1968. He worked for Congressman Ed Edmondson and in the 1968 presidential campaign. In 1969, he joined the firm of Harold F. Wise and Associates in Washington where he focused on initiating and implementing governmental program reforms that increase the role and responsibility of state and local governments. In this work, he assisted in the establishment of the President’s Office of Management and Budget, in formulating the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in creating the Community Development Block Program (CDBG) in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 1971, he returned to Oklahoma to serve as the administrator of the State Office of Community Affairs and Planning (19721976) under Governors David Hall and David Boren. This office was responsible for operating and coordinating the wide variety of federal programs. Upon his return to Washington, DC, he established Murray, Montgomery & O’Donnell to assist governors and mayors in creating and implementing innovative ways to improve the use of federal programs to meet local priorities. Oklahoma City was his first client. Other clients included the cities of San Jose and San Diego in California and the cities of Brownsville and El Paso in Texas. In addition, he established a program to improve the supply and quality of drinking water in 57,000 smaller communities’ water systems throughout the country. Among his activities in working for Oklahoma City over the past 30 years, he assisted in the federal support for the authorization and construction of the McGee Creek reservoir, the expansion of the Lake Atoka water line, initial funding for the Myriad Gardens, tax credits for the Skirvin Hotel rehabilitation,
Molly Wizenberg is a writer, photographer and the voice behind the award-winning blog Orangette. She writes the monthly column “Cooking Life” in Bon Appetit and has been a contributor to Town & Country, Modern Bride, NPR.org, and PBS. org. Her first book, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, will be published by Simon & Schuster next March. Molly is a Stanford University graduate with a BA with distinction in human biology and a minor in French. She taught in Paris at a French public school for a brief period while applying to graduate schools back in the United States to study cultural anthropology. The University of Washington accepted her, so Molly moved to Seattle in 2002 and started work on a Ph.D. In 2005, Molly decided to leave the program and try her hand at being a writer instead of staying in academia, and she has never regretted her decision. Molly is married to Brandon Pettit, and they live in Seattle.
The Young Alumni Achievement Award was presented to Molly Wizenberg ’97 (left) who is pictured with her mother Toni Wizenberg (center) and Jennifer Klos ’99 (right) secretary of the Alumni board who introduced Molly.
Wert Family COMPLETES KIRKPATRICK CHALLENGE Advancement of the instrumental music program has taken center stage this fall as the Kirkpatrick Foundation granted Casady $25,000 and encouraged the School to seek private contributions to complete the additional funding required to expand and further develop this piece of the fine arts program. The grant was immediately met and oversubscribed by 105 contributors to the Dan Wert Memorial Fund. This fund was established in April by Dan’s parents, Lynette and Pete Wert, as a memorial to their son who died of cancer. Dan, a “lifer” at Casady graduated in the class of 1985. Dan was a percussionist as well as an acoustic and electric guitar performer and organized bands at Casady, in college when he was at Vanderbilt University and later when he lived in Los Angeles. Full funding for the instrumental music program was subscribed jointly by the Dan Wert Memorial Fund and the Kirkpatrick Foundation for a total of $51,625 which includes a surplus of $1,425.05 for the percussion program. “The Kirkpatrick Foundation’s mission is to advance the arts and arts education in central Oklahoma,” said Susan McCalmont, executive director. “Our board felt strongly that supporting Casady’s exceptional instrumental arts program and its faculty is in line with the foundation’s mission. The board felt it was equally important to challenge the School to raise the remainder of the funds.” The Journal for Research in Music Education conducted a study last year that stated that “students at schools with excellent music programs had higher English and mathematics test scores across the country than students in schools with low quality music programs or those with no programs at all.” The combined funds for Casady’s instrumental music program will dramatically improve the resources available to teachers and students. New instruments will be acquired for teacher demonstration and student use and new string equipment will augment a growing program. Some instruments will be repaired, additional sound equipment and lights are needed for all performing groups and a plasma television will enhance classroom instruction. New travel
cases will reduce the need for instrument repair when students travel to community, regional and sometimes national and international events. In the spring of 2007, the group traveled with their equipment to China. Additionally, the money will supplement student concerts where students sit sideby-side with local professional musicians that offer collaborative experiences for students and practicing artists. Middle and Upper Division students will directly benefit from the new equipment while all audiences will notice a difference in the quality of performances for concerts, contests, musicals and community performances where Casady students play in quartets and ensembles. In 2009, Dan’s parents, Pete and Lynette Wert, his brother, Ken ’81 and wife Sherri, and his sister Andrea Wert Ebeling ‘79 and husband John, will introduce a separate project for planning and funding the “Dan Wert Studio,” a recording studio that will will be incorporated into the fine arts complex when it is expanded and improved. Dan himself had initiated the idea in December 2007 with a gift of his extensive collection of professional percussion equipment to the music department. “We are impressed and encouraged with the Forward Focus: Campaign for Casady capital program’s aims and look forward to pursuing the concept of the ‘Dan Wert Studio’ for recording in the Fee Theater and fine arts addition,” the family said in a letter to the school. “We understand this is a longer range project, and we will work with the trustees, architects and faculty to ensure sufficient equipment for a first-class recording studio. The ‘Dan Wert Studio’ remains our top priority and will be the fulfillment of Dan’s dream for the School.” At Casady, Dan was a four-year member of the Shield Society and elected to the Cum Laude Society. He received the Vanderbilt Prize and Chilton Powell Creativity Award at graduation and was selected by the class of 1985 to deliver the senior oration. He also received the Alumni Award in 1985. His nephew Karl Wert received the same award at Boy’s Banquet this year. After graduating from Vanderbilt with a degree in German, Dan spent time in Germany then returned to the United States. After working for a time in the family business, he completed law school at the University of Oklahoma. Dan also leaves behind his nieces and nephews Karl ’08, Patrick ’09, Sam ’14 and Peter, Katie and Christine Ebeling of Topeka, KS.
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A Passion
In The Family
In the 1980s during their time at Casady, the Geigers were well known for their tennis talents joined with academic rigors which created a family that is an ideal example of how the Casady experience prepared them for life. The youngest, Meredith Geiger-Walton from Casady’s class of 1990, has recently been named the head women’s tennis coach at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Meredith spent six years as the director of the tennis academy at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin which is a member of the Southwest Preparatory Conference. “There is no doubt Casady has been an influence in my character and who I am today,” Meredith said. “When I graduated with a class of 59 and went to ASU (Arizona State University) which had 53,000 students at the time, I knew I could meet the challenge because Casady had provided me with the foundation of academics and discipline to balance the demands of both school and tennis.” The Geigers came to Casady in the fall of 1983. Older sister Kristie Geiger Stevens graduated in 1986 and brother, Bryan, graduated in 1988. Even though tennis was the primary passion, the Geigers were still able to compete in three seasonal sports on campus. In addition to their positions on the tennis team, all three siblings played soccer, and Meredith played field hockey and Bryan played volleyball. “Casady was great about encouraging students to participate in many sports, and supported the student-athletes who excelled in certain sports outside of school”, Meredith said. While playing at Casady, Meredith never lost a match in her four years playing Varsity and was an outstanding scholar-athlete like her siblings. From ages 12 to 18, she was ranked every year in the top 10 nationally for USTA juniors. There was a time at Casady where at least one of the Geiger family members was named to one of the Athletic Awards every year. In 1988, Bryan won the Dartmouth Cup at Casady and was named outstanding boy’s athlete of the year. Meredith received the Roy C. Lyle award in 1990. “The faculty and staff at Casady had such a transparent passion for their teaching. I felt they recognized my passion for tennis and supported me just me same,” said Meredith. I know I have chosen a career in coaching, because I have wanted to be that person in my students’ lives,” she said. “Looking back, Casady School was preparing and enabling us with the ability to succeed later in life. There were certainly times I may not have been thinking this way due to such an active schedule but the overall experience put us on a platform which eased the transition into college and later life outside of the classroom. The road to now would have been a lot tougher without Casady School in my life,” Bryan said.
With tennis as a platform, Kristie, Bryan and Meredith all went on todemonstrate how the discipline and passion they learned at Casady would prove successful. As standout player during her collegiate days at ASU, Meredith was a NCAA All American, on the Pac-10 All Academic Team and an ASU Maroon and Gold Scholar Athlete all four years. After college Meredith went on to play professionally on the Women’s Tennis Association tour for three years. Meredith has earned numerous titles and honors on her shelves from her playing career. Meredith was named the 2008 USPTA National Touring Coach of the Year, the 2007 USPTA/Texas Touring Coach of the Year, and the ITA Assistant Coach of the Year for the Southwest Region in 2002. She also served on the Texas Coaches Commission during her time in Austin. She is a certified USPTA P1 and has completed the USTA High Performance Coaches workshop. In 2005, she led the USTA Texas junior Fed Cup team to its first championship in 23 years. She has also been a presenter at the USTA Tennis Teachers Conference in New York, as well as a speaker at USPTA Texas and CATA conventions. Recently, Geiger-Walton was named by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to coach the Girls’ 14 and under team in the Bonne Bell MCB Cup (USA vs. Australia) in Melbourne, Australia. The yearly event, which will be held in November of 2008, pits junior girls from the United States against their counterparts from Australia. When Meredith left an assistant coaching position at the University of Texas in 2002 she returned to St. Stephen’s because it was an independent school, Episcopalian and very much like her home, her roots and Casady. Kristie played Division III tennis at Scripps College in Claremont, CA, and Bryan played and lettered at both the University of Oklahoma and ASU where he coached Meredith’s team as a graduate assistant. At college graduation in 1990, Kristie received the Scripps Athletic Alumnae Award for outstanding achievements in women’s athletics. She has been the girl’s tennis coach at Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson, AZ, for 17 years where she coached eight consecutive state championships. In 2005, she was named the National High School Tennis Coach of the Year and has been the Southern Arizona Coach of the Year seven times. This fall, Kristie was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. She and her husband Mark have two children Patrick, 11, and Natalie, 9. After college, Bryan coached at the University of San Diego and is a member of the USTA and accredited as a pro. Today he plays tennis for recreation with his children, Christopher, age 9, and Sydney, age 5, who both love tennis. Professionally, Bryan is senior vice president of commercial lending for Bank of Oklahoma in
LOOKING BACK, “ CASADY SCHOOL
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WAS PREPARING AND ENABLING US WITH THE ABILITY TO SUCCEED LATER IN LIFE,” BRYAN SAID. “... BUT THE OVERALL EXPERIENCE PUT US ON A PLATFORM WHICH EASED THE TRANSITION INTO COLLEGE AND LATER LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM...
”
Kristie Geiger Stevens ’86 sits amongst her many trophies. Kristie has coached her high school team to eight consecutive state championships and was inducted into the Pima County, AZ, Hall of Fame this fall. Meredith Geiger-Walton ’90 has been named head women’s tennis coach at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. Oklahoma City and serves on the boards for the Commercial Real Estate Council and Citizens Caring for Children. His wife, Sarah, volunteers with many local organizations. At first, Meredith turned down the chance to interview at William and Mary because her husband, Matt, was in a lucrative position with his company, and they were settled in Austin with her coaching position at St. Stephens and two children, Jett, age 4, and Cash, age 1. “Once I did interview I was sold. The academic reputation of the school, the location and the fact that it is consistently a top 20 school, renewed that desire to coach Division I tennis. The College of William and Mary known as a ‘public ivy,’ so it typically attracts very strong student athletes who want the rigors of an academic education but also be at the top of their game in athletics. The goals of this program were the very same goals and values instilled in me at Casady, “Meredith said. “I couldn’t have found a better match.” “It’s about academics. It’s about community. It’s about relationships. These guide you on this pathway to success. The fact that the teachers and Casady were very accepting me, embraced my talents and inspired my passion has influenced me tremendously in terms of my career decisions,” Meredith said.
After graduating from Casady, Bryan Geiger ’88 played tennis for OU and ASU and coached his sister’s team at ASU as a graduate assistant.
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Stephen Sanger Raises $9,200 on
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Journey of Hope
Bike Ride Across America
Stephen Sanger ’06, a junior at the University of Kansas, joined 84 of his Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brothers from universities across the country and pedaled on a 4,000-mile bicycle trip across the United States to raise awareness about people with disabilities. Their tour called the Journey of Hope involved three different teams departing from either Seattle or San Francisco and travelling through 16 states to Washington, DC, over a 10-week period. Each team member was required to raise a minimum of $5,000. Sanger raised more than $9,200. “Stephen is a nice kid with a big heart, and he’s using it for the good of others and to help and support others,” said his mother, Kaycee Wilcox Nolting ’79. “He is interested in supporting his community and those around him, and I wasn’t necessarily surprised he wanted to do it.” The Journey of Hope is a project of Push America, which was founded by the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity in 1977 with a mission to build leaders of tomorrow by serving people with disabilities today. The organization was created to educate and provide a quality hands-on service experience for members of Pi Kappa Phi while enhancing the lives of people with disabilities. Its members have raised over $8 million for the organization since its establishment. This year’s team raised close to $500,000. Each day the team rode an average of 85 miles, and at the completion of the day’s ride participated in a “friendship visit” where they met and engaged in activities with children and adults with disabilities. Activities included wheelchair basketball, putting on a puppet show or just spending time with the groups and listening to their stories. Their stop in Denver coincided with a Special Olympics cycling fundraiser and dance. Stephen said he learned the importance of volunteering, even if it’s just for a few hours. “Don’t underestimate the impact you can have on someone else’s life by a small act of kindness,” Stephen said. At Casady, Stephen was a lifer and enjoyed his years spent on the campus and around the lake. He served as an acolyte in the Chapel and was involved in the Art and Film Club. He was president of Fellowship of Christian Athletes his senior year
DON’T “ UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPACT YOU CAN HAVE ON SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE BY A SMALL ACT OF KINDNESS, STEPHEN SAID.
”
Stephen Sanger ’06 ended the Journey of Hope ride in front of the nation’s capitol in Washington, D.C. Stephen went on a 4,000 mile ride over 10-weeks with his Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brothers. and was an Eagle Scout. Stephen is studying accounting and finance at KU and has continued his involvement in student activities. He is on the Board of Class Officers as well as the Greek Ambassadors Board and Interfraternity Council, and he is social chairman for Pi Kappa Phi. Stephen is the business representative for Rock Chalk Revue, a benefit performance with proceeds going to the United Way of Douglas County. “He is a good big brother to his little sister, and he has the family and the people around him close to his heart,” Kaycee said. Rachel Nolting, his sister, is a freshman at Casady.
Keeping
History Alive
at Casady
Preserving and documenting the history of an institution is important to sustaining it for future generations. Materials, artwork and other records that have been selected for permanent or long-term preservation are noted for their enduring research value for future generations at Casady. Just this the fall, the seventh grade was working on a project that required them to review older Casady Twisters which prompted Librarian Michaela Freeland in Crabtree Library to send out a call for yearbooks. “The students LOVE looking at the old yearbooks; they are in use almost daily in the libraries. The older ones are fairly brittle and are showing years of student use,” she said. “This has me looking at the yearbook collection in the Crabtree and Cochran Libraries. Between the two buildings we do not have a complete collection. We are missing 1956, 1960 and 1970. Our earliest yearbook is from 1955. A solution is to acquire additional back yearbooks for student use and keep the special collection for academic use/preservation. Do you think that someone would be willing to donate yearbooks from those years to the library?” Over the course of its 61-year history, Casady has accumulated
more than just the yearbooks, including a number of historical records, documents, photographs and materials that need to be properly cataloged and placed in a permanent location. This year, the Ambassadors Committee of the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association made a fund request to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation for seed capital to establish an archive to preserve the history of the oldest independent secondary school in the city. “By passing on the rich history of Casady to future generations, it will foster a sense of community among its students and graduates. In addition, since many of Casady’s graduates have become some of the most influential leaders in the Oklahoma City community (and beyond), recording their formative years is important information to document in regard to the history of the community,” according to the grant request. In response to the funding request, Casady has received a $3,000 grant from the Oklahoma City Community Foundation and its Capacity Building, Fund for Oklahoma City. The grant will be used to assist in establishing the School’s Archive “This grant will allow us to acquire the materials necessary to set up our archives and to purchase software, bar coding equipment and archival supplies to begin our work,” said David Sapper ’74, co-chair of the Ambassador Committee. “The collections manager at the Oklahoma City National Memorial offered advice about procedures, software and storage materials. The Dulaney family has been very generous in donating temporary space for our storage.” The Alumni Association provided $500 initial funding last year to purchase the first inventory of cotton gloves, acid-free filing folders and storage boxes. The committee has made the call to faculty, staff and administrators to contact David to make submissions to the archive. Already, the committee has received a request from the Admission Office to create a gallery of framed pictures in their offices in Woolsey House that depicts an historical timeline of Casady. The class of 1988 is helping to fund the enlargements and framing for this project with gifts made in memory of classmate Jennifer Wyatt Barnes who passed away in 1998. The gallery of framed photos will be identified as “Given in Memory of Jennifer Wyatt Barnes by the Class of 1988.” In addition to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation grant, funding for the project includes $1,000 from the Alumni Association, a document scanner and computer worth approximately $1,300 from the School’s IT department and temporary space donated by Tom Dulaney and Richard Dulaney to temporarily house the materials. The current capital campaign, Forward Focus: Campaign for Casady, will increase the facility’s capacity significantly, and the School has committed to allocating appropriate space for the archival work when the new buildings are completed.
BY PASSING “ ON THE RICH
HISTORY OF CASADY TO FUTURE GENERATIONS, IT WILL FOSTER A SENSE OF COMMUNITY AMONG ITS STUDENTS AND GRADUATES...
Call for Archive Materials, Twisters and Volunteers
Contact the Casady Alumni Office at garrettbj@casady.org or 405-749-3162.
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Understanding the value of a casady education The excellence in education Casady provides is clear as the Admission Office has enrolled the highest number of students since 2003. At the start of Casady’s 2008-09 academic year the number of students enrolled was 916. Nearly 125 parents are Casady alumni. “Reconnecting with Casady has truly been all that we prayed it would be. Our experience was off to a perfect start in meeting Janet Weeks at the open house last winter,” said new parent Tanja Krous Boyd ’86. “Her family was our host family (what a great concept!) and answered a thousand questions for us as we gathered as much information we could about the School to size it up for our son Philip. Once we met several of the teachers and also learned that Chris Bright would become the new Headmaster, we clearly understood the direction and intent of the School.” Communicating the mission of the School and bringing families on campus deepens their understanding of our mission, and the true value of a Casady education. This year, Primary Division is standing at its highest number of 134 students since 1993 and Lower Division has a record number of students at 224, its highest enrollment since 1997. As the School grows and evolves there is increasing interest in its mission and perspective. The faculty, staff and administration strive to help the students acquire an enduring love for learning, an understanding of traditional ethical principles, a social conscience and an appreciation for physical health. Further, the School believes the most effective learning environment includes an appreciation for diversity including racial, cultural, socio-economic, gender and geographic backgrounds. “Increasing enrollment, while important, must be done in a thoughtful, mission appropriate way to ensure each student has the opportunity to be successful in the classroom, on the stage and around the athletic venues,” said Aaron James, Director of Admission. “I am excited about the caliber of our new students, as well as the quality of the students that we have who will enrich each other’s daily educational experience.” Caroline Patton, a new parent with son Jake ’11 and Grace ’17 looked at another independent school in the area but found that Casady is true to its mission to broaden and develop all facets of the student. “We chose Casady because number 1 it felt very similar to
CASADY “ GRADUATES ARE 56
WELL-EDUCATED, RESPONSIBLE AND COMPASSIONATE INDIVIDUALS – PEOPLE WHO WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD AROUND THEM, MR. JAMES SAID.
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the private schools the kids were attending in Massachusetts and number 2 because of the value Casady places on academics. Casady offers a full menu of athletics, but it emphasizes the academic standard. We wanted to make sure that we chose a school that had an emphasis on academics,” she said. Parent ambassadors play a significant role in the admission process and last year provided 140 tours to prospective families. Open houses for each of the divisions are held throughout the year and all prospective parents and alumni are welcome to contact the Admission Office and to attend these events. Casady School is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools, or NAIS, and is bound by the recruitment guidelines, with respect to other area independent schools, which prohibit the Admission Office from directly contacting parents with children younger than the natural matriculation grade at their respective schools. Mr. James is collaborating with Betty Jane Garrett, Director of Alumni Relations, to keep a current list of
2008-2009 Statistics 163 new students
Highest enrollment since 2003
Highest primary enrollment since 1993
Highest lower division enrollment since 1997 Nearly 125 parents are alumni
New students represent 10 states and 2 countries
25% of student body is racially diverse 12% of student body receiving student aid
alumni in the Oklahoma City area with school age children. If you would like more information, please contact Mr. James at 405-7493125 or jamesa@casady.org. The Casady website presents an outstanding resource for anyone interested in learning more about life around the lake, campus plans for a sustainable future or the ideology on which the school was founded in 1947. As Judge Almond Cochran, one of the founders, summed up the early aspirations of Casady in 1947, “We believe that our splendid young people should not only develop high principles of character but that they should learn how to study in their young and impressionable years and that the habits formed now will immeasurably influence their lives and their future careers.” Administrators, faculty and staff uphold those values today.
educating MIND • BODY • SPIRIT since 1947
Open Houses Primary/ Lower Division (Grades Pre-K - 4)
Sunday, January 11, 2009 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Loeffler Primary Division & Powell Lower Division
Middle Division
Upper Division
(Grades 5 - 8)
(Grades 9 - 12) Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Fee Theater & Calvert Hall
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. McClendon Middle Division
Contact Lori Collins at 405-749-3185 or email collinsl@casady.org
Casady School’s Admission Season Has Begun. Come Join Us........
Testing Dates Primary Division
Lower Division
Middle/Upper Division
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. Loeffler Primary Division
Saturday, March 7, 2009 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon Powell Lower Division & Crabtree Library
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon Calvert Hall
(Grades Pre-K - Kindergarten)
Please confirm with Lana Schiltz at 405-749-3148 or email schiltzl@casady.org
(Grades 2 - 4)
NOTE: 1st grade testing will be arranged with the division director
(Grades 5 - 12)
Saturday, March 28, 2009 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon Calvert Hall
Contact Lori Collins at 405-749-3185 or email collinsl@casady.org
ENVIROMENTAL BENEFITS STATEMENT
Casady School used a paper which is certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative fiber sourcing standard, the Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody standard, and contains 10% post consumer waste for sheet fed products.
As Seen In
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Casady School
Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage
9500 North Pennsylvania Avenue Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120
Phone: (405) 749-3100
PAID
Oklahoma City, OK Permit No. 393
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Fax: (405) 749-3214
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www.casady.org